Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $18.98 and last traded at $18.93. 4,012,150 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 23,889,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.90.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Raymond James upped their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.05.
Read Our Latest Report on GOLD
Barrick Gold Price Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $18.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55.
Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.
Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.
Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,073,717 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $78,637,000 after buying an additional 128,203 shares during the period. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH grew its position in Barrick Gold by 97.3% during 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 buying an additional 720,000 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at about $700,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 278,717 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 17,980 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company's stock.
About Barrick Gold
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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