Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Barrick Gold Call Options (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD – Get Rating) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 77,686 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 53% compared to the typical volume of 50,920 call options.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 142,543 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $2,449,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 174,963 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $3,005,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its position in Barrick Gold by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 14,474 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 6,523 shares in the last quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,084 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 7,638 shares during the period. Finally, Bennicas & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOLD. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 21st. BNP Paribas lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Fundamental Research set a $19.02 price target on shares of Barrick Gold and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from C$29.00 to C$28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.60.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $17.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.51. Barrick Gold has a 1-year low of $13.01 and a 1-year high of $25.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.96 billion, a PE ratio of 71.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.30.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD – Get Rating) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 3.92%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 27th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 166.67%.

About Barrick Gold

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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.