Traders Purchase High Volume of Barrick Gold Call Options (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 83,644 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 80% compared to the average daily volume of 46,363 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC lowered Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOLD. Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth $1,055,000. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $15,733,000. Allianz SE acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth $33,726,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. purchased a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,661,000. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at about $197,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 7.4 %

GOLD stock traded up $1.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.33. 26,157,132 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,564,631. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.06. Barrick Gold has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.17. The company has a market capitalization of $31.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 43.01%.

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.