Traders Buy Large Volume of Barrick Gold Call Options (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 73,722 call options on the company. This is an increase of 48% compared to the typical volume of 49,851 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.4% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 42,973 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 24.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 56,394 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,051 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of GOLD stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $18.38. 18,161,720 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,558,969. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of $15.11 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The company has a market capitalization of $31.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, equities research 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 repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOLD shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

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.