Share Repurchase Plan Announced by Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Board

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.67.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $17.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $31.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $16.23 and its 200 day moving average is $18.17. Barrick Gold has a 12 month low of $14.25 and a 12 month high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 5.82%. Research analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.01%.

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.