Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Trading 0.2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) shot up 0.2% on Wednesday after Berenberg Bank raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $38.00. The company traded as high as $17.75 and last traded at $17.60. 4,458,735 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 21,508,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.56.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Argus raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group cut Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after buying an additional 1,458,084 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 3.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 666,214 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 14,546,530 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $242,491,000 after purchasing an additional 461,406 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 33.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,854,055 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Barrick Gold by 221.1% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $199,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,904,934 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.65. The stock has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.53.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 43.01%.

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.