Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Rating Lowered to Neutral at UBS Group

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $22.00 price target on the gold and copper producer’s stock, down from their previous price target of $23.00. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 13.87% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus upgraded Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.50.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE GOLD opened at $19.32 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.38. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.01, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $33.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. Barrick Gold’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DCF Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 48.3% in the second quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 107,500 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,793,000 after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares during the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the third quarter worth approximately $2,382,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.6% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,089,855 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $18,135,000 after purchasing an additional 38,100 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the second quarter worth approximately $934,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the first quarter worth approximately $740,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.