Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Gap Down to $17.37

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $17.37, but opened at $16.79. Barrick Gold shares last traded at $16.35, with a volume of 9,937,563 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOLD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Monday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Barrick Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.05.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $29.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $15.82 and a 200 day moving average of $16.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 2.40.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued 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 yield of 1.77%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 55.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 58.4% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 37,128,653 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 80,933,517 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,464,070,000 after acquiring an additional 7,150,142 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,103,710 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $821,790,000 after acquiring an additional 6,417,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 6.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,680,178 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.