Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $24.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as high as $20.95 and last traded at $20.94, with a volume of 854565 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.58.

GOLD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. 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. CIBC lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.30.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,359,933 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $115,051,000 after buying an additional 211,928 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 72,977 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 12,860 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $627,000 after acquiring an additional 8,276 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 36,505 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,570 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 1.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 3.01. The stock has a market cap of $36.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.95 and its 200 day moving average is $17.45.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Barrick Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is presently 48.78%.

Barrick Gold Company Profile

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.