Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by UBS Group

UBS Group lowered shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. UBS Group currently has $22.00 price objective on the gold and copper producer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $23.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on GOLD. Argus raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.50.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 1.4 %

GOLD stock opened at $19.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.41. Barrick Gold has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. Barrick Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 46.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 18,163 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 25,659 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.3% in the third quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,890 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 0.9% in the third quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 73,185 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, apricus wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 0.6% in the third quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 112,850 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently 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.