Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$30.38.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABX shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on Barrick Gold from C$26.00 to C$24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$37.00 to C$36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$33.50 to C$30.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of ABX opened at C$22.90 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$23.46 and a 200-day moving average of C$25.21. The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.48. Barrick Gold has a twelve month low of C$18.65 and a twelve month high of C$29.50.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported C$0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.45 by C($0.03). Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 7.20%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 2.2422764 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.135 per share. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 45.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barrick Gold

In related news, Senior Officer Poupak Bahamin purchased 5,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$25.03 per share, with a total value of C$144,645.87. Also, Director Dennis Mark Bristow acquired 85,296 shares of Barrick Gold stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$25.03 per share, with a total value of C$2,135,291.53. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, mine development, production, and sale of gold and copper properties in Canada and internationally. The company also explores and sells silver and energy materials. It has ownership interests in producing gold mines located in Argentina, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Mali, Tanzania, and the United States.