Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX saw a large growth in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 20,252,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DCF Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. DCF Advisers LLC now owns 107,500 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 35,000 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the third quarter worth about $3,711,000. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 330.5% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 99,240 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 76,186 shares during the period. Evexia Wealth LLC bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,382,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,089,855 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $18,135,000 after buying an additional 38,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOLD shares. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus upgraded Barrick Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.90.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Barrick Gold stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $16.85. 31,512,092 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,432,018. 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 one year low of $13.76 and a one year high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $29.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.48.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. Barrick Gold's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.01%.

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.