Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Up 0.8%

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s stock price shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.56 and last traded at $20.46. 3,376,948 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 21,266,502 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOLD shares. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.60.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.01. The stock has a market cap of $35.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.88.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,680,644 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,821,963,000 after buying an additional 37,128,653 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,761,067 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,077,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,572 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $978,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,138,639 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,479,229 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $821,790,000 after buying an additional 6,417,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.7% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,837,028 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $314,254,000 after purchasing an additional 666,214 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation is a sector-leading gold and copper producer.  Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GOLD and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ABX.
 
In January 2019 Barrick merged with Randgold Resources and in July that year it combined its gold mines in Nevada, USA, with those of Newmont Corporation in a joint venture, Nevada Gold Mines, which is majority-owned and operated by Barrick.