Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Stifel Canada

Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports. Stifel Canada also issued estimates for Barrick Gold’s FY2025 earnings at $1.41 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $1.55 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $1.33 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $1.44 EPS.

GOLD has been the topic of several other research reports. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC downgraded Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group upgraded Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price objective on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Barrick Gold has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $18.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.05. Barrick Gold has a 1 year low of $0.25 and a 1 year high of $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 32.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,073,717 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $78,637,000 after buying an additional 128,203 shares during the last quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $22,630,000 after buying an additional 720,000 shares during the last quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 36.5% during the third quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 604,199 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $12,018,000 after buying an additional 161,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at about $700,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.