Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Down 2.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s share price traded down 2.7% during trading on Friday after Raymond James lowered their price target on the stock from $26.50 to $26.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as low as $20.42 and last traded at $20.44. 6,496,318 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 21,297,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.01.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price 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 raised their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. 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 report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Argus raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOLD. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 628.8% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, City State Bank grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 338.6% in the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 2,500 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,930 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.34 and a 200 day moving average of $17.76. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $35.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. 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.