Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) dropped 1.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $19.30 and last traded at $19.36. Approximately 3,228,624 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 21,157,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. CIBC lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $35.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.06.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOLD. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 198.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 628.8% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors 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.