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 Wednesday. Traders acquired 91,114 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the average daily volume of 52,519 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOLD shares. 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. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Seven equities 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.05.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter valued at $342,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,144,340 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $99,867,000 after buying an additional 70,623 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 47,544 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,861,295 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,337,012,000 after acquiring an additional 502,762 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GOLD traded down $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.83. 21,204,009 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,676,024. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Barrick Gold has a one year low of $15.11 and a one year high of $21.35. The company's 50 day moving average is $19.09 and its 200 day moving average is $17.81.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm's revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.08%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.