Analysts Set Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) Target Price at C$28.81

Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX - Get Free Report) NYSE: ABX has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$28.81.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC restated an "outperform" rating and set a C$31.00 price objective on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from C$28.00 to C$24.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. National Bankshares cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$29.00 to C$28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold to C$29.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$30.00 to C$25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of Barrick Gold stock traded up C$0.54 on Thursday, reaching C$22.53. 8,087,189 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,282,469. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$20.62 and a 200 day moving average of C$21.71. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.41. Barrick Gold has a 52 week low of C$18.65 and a 52 week high of C$28.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.32, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 2.62.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX - Get Free Report) NYSE: ABX last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported C$0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.28 by C$0.09. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The firm had revenue of C$4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of C$4.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 1.1903153 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.10%.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, mine development, production, and sale of gold and copper properties in Canada and internationally. The company also explores and sells silver and energy materials. It has ownership interests in producing gold mines located in Argentina, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Mali, Tanzania, and the United States.