Brokerages Set Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Price Target at $23.79

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.60.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOLD shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,821,963,000 after purchasing an additional 37,128,653 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.7% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 7,150,142 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,671,495 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,151,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,710 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 16.4% during 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 position in 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 valued at $808,287,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680,178 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $16.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.16. The company has a market capitalization of $29.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold has a one year low of $13.76 and a one year high of $20.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.99 and its 200 day moving average is $16.28.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 4.64%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.074 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.56%.

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.