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

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 67,756 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 47% compared to the average daily volume of 46,023 call options.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 2.7 %

Barrick Gold stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.64. The stock had a trading volume of 29,319,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,542,074. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.16. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $15.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. Barrick Gold has a 1-year low of $13.76 and a 1-year high of $20.75.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.074 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOLD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Barrick Gold from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. CIBC cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Barrick Gold has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.05.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $519,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,671,495 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,151,817,000 after buying an additional 1,103,710 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,790 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 58.4% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 37,128,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $423,000. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.