Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Stock Price Down 1.4%

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) dropped 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $16.26 and last traded at $16.40. Approximately 9,042,354 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 22,936,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOLD has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. CIBC cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial reiterated a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.06.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $28.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.074 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,680,644 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,821,963,000 after acquiring an additional 37,128,653 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 80,933,517 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,464,070,000 after purchasing an additional 7,150,142 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,671,495 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,151,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,710 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,479,229 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $821,790,000 after buying an additional 6,417,244 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 44,681,411 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $808,287,000 after buying an additional 2,680,178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.