Barrick Gold Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 83,644 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 80% compared to the typical volume of 46,363 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOLD. Bank of America cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.83.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 6.5 %

Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.18 on Thursday. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.06.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 43.01%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $9,630,000 after acquiring an additional 80,366 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 2,317,580 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $46,097,000 after purchasing an additional 413,012 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,711,000. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 330.5% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 99,240 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,974,000 after buying an additional 76,186 shares during the period. Finally, Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $22,630,000 after acquiring an additional 720,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.