Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Trading 1.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s stock price was up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.94 and last traded at $19.90. Approximately 3,692,749 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 21,065,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOLD. Raymond James dropped their target price on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $35.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $20.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.36. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,761,067 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,077,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,572 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 31.6% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $978,766,000 after buying an additional 14,138,639 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 3.7% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 666,214 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,887,656 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $251,929,000 after buying an additional 1,231,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 14,546,530 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $242,491,000 after acquiring an additional 461,406 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently 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.