Brokerages Set Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Price Target at $23.75

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.75.

GOLD has been the subject of several research reports. CIBC cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of 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 research note on Monday, January 27th.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

NYSE GOLD opened at $18.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.06. The company has a market cap of $32.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold has a 1 year low of $0.25 and a 1 year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 32.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the 4th 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 136.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $516,055,000 after buying an additional 19,189,830 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.9% during 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 buying an additional 278,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.