Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on GOLD. CSFB reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 13th. TD Securities dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, Cormark upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a market perform rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.31.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $15.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 3.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 527.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.46. Barrick Gold has a 52-week low of $13.82 and a 52-week high of $20.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.53.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The gold and copper producer reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 0.52% and a return on equity of 3.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 30th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 1,333.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Snider Financial Group bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter worth $185,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Barrick Gold by 239.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,556,865 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $158,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,038,440 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Barrick Gold by 60.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,183,895 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $256,868,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,106 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 42,464,736 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $788,570,000 after buying an additional 5,188,456 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,824,320 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $437,387,000 after buying an additional 5,164,698 shares during the last quarter. 58.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.