Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Down 2.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s share price fell 2.7% during trading on Friday after Raymond James lowered their price target on the stock from $26.50 to $26.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as low as $20.42 and last traded at $20.44. 6,496,318 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 21,297,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.01.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Argus raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. CIBC increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DCF Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 48.3% during the second quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 107,500 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 35,000 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,051,755 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $19,026,000 after buying an additional 169,350 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the first quarter valued at about $235,000. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 87.0% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 41,002 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 19,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Sense Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 142.1% in the first quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. now owns 826,507 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $13,753,000 after purchasing an additional 485,077 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 3.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio 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.