Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Down 1% on Analyst Downgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) dropped 1% during trading on Friday after Scotiabank lowered their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $24.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as low as $18.17 and last traded at $18.30. Approximately 5,804,423 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 21,136,818 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.48.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOLD. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,761,067 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,077,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,572 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $978,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,138,639 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.7% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,837,028 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $314,254,000 after purchasing an additional 666,214 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,887,656 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $251,929,000 after buying an additional 1,231,184 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.3% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 14,546,530 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $242,491,000 after buying an additional 461,406 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $31.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.02 and a 200-day moving average of $18.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.51%.

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.