Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $25.00. The stock had previously closed at $19.24, but opened at $20.11. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Barrick Gold shares last traded at $20.42, with a volume of 8,564,017 shares changing hands.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GOLD. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Barrick Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.04.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after buying an additional 1,195,585 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $996,802,000 after buying an additional 9,598,292 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 136.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $516,055,000 after buying an additional 19,189,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,318,376 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $237,280,000 after acquiring an additional 278,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.92. The stock has a market cap of $34.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. Analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.