Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Up 5.1% Following Dividend Announcement

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s stock price was up 5.1% on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $18.23 and last traded at $17.94. Approximately 9,745,724 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 19,926,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.07.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. CIBC lowered Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.83.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $31.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $268,000. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 2,669,327 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $41,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113,748 shares during the last quarter. Bay Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth approximately $560,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,585 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.