Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Short Interest Up 62.0% in October

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,881,600 shares, a growth of 62.0% from the October 15th total of 11,035,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 20,252,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 18,163 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 25,659 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 64,085 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in 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. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 24.1% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 659 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOLD. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.90.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $16.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.65. Barrick Gold has a 52 week low of $13.76 and a 52 week high of $21.35. The firm has a market cap of $29.09 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $19.74 and its 200-day moving average is $18.46.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is presently 43.01%.

About Barrick Gold

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.