Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) Rating Lowered to Hold at Scotiabank

Scotiabank downgraded shares of Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on ABX. UBS Group lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a C$36.00 target price on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a C$34.00 price target on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, National Bankshares cut their price objective on Barrick Gold from C$26.00 to C$24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$30.38.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

ABX stock opened at C$22.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.54, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$23.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$25.20. The company has a market capitalization of C$39.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.48. Barrick Gold has a 52-week low of C$18.65 and a 52-week high of C$29.50.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported C$0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.45 by C($0.03). Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 7.20%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Research analysts expect that Barrick Gold will post 2.2422764 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.135 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 45.38%.

Insider Activity at Barrick Gold

In related news, Senior Officer Poupak Bahamin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$24.49, for a total transaction of C$61,215.00. Also, Director Dennis Mark Bristow bought 85,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$25.03 per share, for a total transaction of C$2,135,291.53. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, mine development, production, and sale of gold and copper properties in Canada and internationally. The company also explores and sells silver and energy materials. It has ownership interests in producing gold mines located in Argentina, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Mali, Tanzania, and the United States.