Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$31.14.

ABX has been the topic of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Barrick Gold from C$31.00 to C$33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from C$28.50 to C$33.50 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Barrick Gold from C$37.00 to C$36.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a C$34.00 target price on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher Lewis Coleman sold 121,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$28.10, for a total value of C$3,409,485.40. In other news, Senior Officer Joel James Holliday sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$27.36, for a total value of C$547,298.10. Also, Director Christopher Lewis Coleman sold 121,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$28.10, for a total value of C$3,409,485.40. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

ABX opened at C$23.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.54, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.01. Barrick Gold has a 52-week low of C$18.65 and a 52-week high of C$29.50. The stock has a market capitalization of C$41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$27.21 and its 200-day moving average price is C$25.09.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The basic materials company reported C$0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.36 by C$0.08. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 7.20% and a net margin of 12.78%. The company had revenue of C$4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$4.12 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 2.2422764 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 45.38%.

Barrick Gold Company Profile

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.