Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on GOLD. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. National Bank Financial raised Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 9.0 %

Shares of GOLD opened at $17.64 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $15.11 and a 12 month high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $30.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.99.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. Equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has approved a stock 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 typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 32.52%.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 29.6% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 849,730 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $16,890,000 after buying an additional 194,130 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $463,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 7.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 65,185 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 4,554 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 11.3% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 22,879 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,329 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by 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.