Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Upgraded to Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $24.00 price target on the gold and copper producer’s stock.

GOLD has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an outperformer rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.80.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE GOLD opened at $20.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.51. Barrick Gold has a 52 week low of $13.76 and a 52 week high of $20.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.49, a current ratio of 3.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake 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 worth $19,026,000 after purchasing an additional 169,350 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 123,651 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold during the first quarter valued at about $235,000. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake 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 worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 19,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Sense Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 142.1% in the 1st 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 and hedge funds.

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.