Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s share price was up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $22.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as high as $19.42 and last traded at $19.35. Approximately 3,260,189 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 21,387,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.28.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOLD. Argus raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. CIBC upped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 47.7% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 87,638 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 28,318 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,359,933 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $115,051,000 after buying an additional 211,928 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 72,977 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 12,860 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 34,633 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 8,276 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 0.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $34.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.36.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.55% 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. Barrick Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 48.78%.

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.