Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.30.

GOLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. 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. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Monday, February 26th. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, National Bank Financial reaffirmed a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 2.7 %

NYSE:GOLD opened at $16.64 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.57. Barrick Gold has a 52-week low of $13.76 and a 52-week high of $20.75. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.04.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.074 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis 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 55.56%.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,910,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,331,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 204.2% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 249,017 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $4,505,000 after purchasing an additional 167,145 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 524,618 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $7,633,000 after purchasing an additional 183,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,995,217 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $255,406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,110 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.