TD Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Stock Price

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) had its price objective reduced by analysts at TD Securities from $24.00 to $23.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the gold and copper producer’s stock. TD Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank cut Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cibc World Mkts cut Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.67.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 1.7 %

GOLD traded up $0.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.49. 18,576,755 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,983,686. Barrick Gold has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.17. The stock has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.06.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced 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 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,182,641,000 after buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,585 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $996,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $223,665,000 after purchasing an additional 236,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Barrick Gold by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,854,055 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.