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

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 91,114 call options on the company. This is an increase of 73% compared to the average volume of 52,519 call options.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the third quarter valued at about $210,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $9,630,000 after acquiring an additional 80,366 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 22,025 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $700,000. Finally, City State Bank boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 7,500 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.05 and a 200 day moving average of $17.86. Barrick Gold has a 52 week low of $15.11 and a 52 week high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Company Profile

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.