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

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.79.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOLD shares. CIBC reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, National Bank Financial reissued a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Monday, April 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOLD. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold during the first quarter worth $42,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $647,000. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 288.8% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 90,896 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 67,516 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 230,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $5,651,000 after acquiring an additional 113,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.7% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,007,571 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $24,620,000 after acquiring an additional 151,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:GOLD opened at $16.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $20.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.074 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

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.