Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Stock Price Down 0.4%

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) dropped 0.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $18.31 and last traded at $18.45. Approximately 3,834,226 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 21,601,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. CIBC boosted their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, National Bank Financial restated a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.20.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 3.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.99 and a 200 day moving average of $16.44.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.58% and a return on equity of 4.88%. The firm had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This is a positive change from Barrick Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 48.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,680,644 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,821,963,000 after purchasing an additional 37,128,653 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $978,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,138,639 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 80,933,517 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,464,070,000 after buying an additional 7,150,142 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,479,229 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $821,790,000 after acquiring an additional 6,417,244 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP raised its position in Barrick Gold by 198.3% in the 4th quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 9,606,218 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $173,727,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.