Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s share price was up 0.4% on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $22.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as high as $19.42 and last traded at $19.35. Approximately 3,260,189 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 21,387,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.28.

GOLD has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 628.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 175.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.49, a current ratio of 3.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $34.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.31.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.55% and a net margin of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Barrick Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.78%.

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.