Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Stock Price Down 0.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) traded down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after TD Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $25.00. TD Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as low as $17.47 and last traded at $17.66. 4,863,852 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 21,481,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.68.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on GOLD. Argus upgraded Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cibc World Mkts cut Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.91.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,837,028 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $314,254,000 after buying an additional 666,214 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 14,546,530 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $242,491,000 after acquiring an additional 461,406 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Barrick Gold by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $227,524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854,055 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Barrick Gold by 221.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $199,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,904,934 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $30.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

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 2.28%. 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.