Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Trading Down 1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX shares traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Friday after TD Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $26.00. TD Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as low as $18.17 and last traded at $18.30. 5,804,423 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 21,136,818 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.48.

GOLD has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Argus raised Barrick Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.90.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 31.6% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $978,766,000 after buying an additional 14,138,639 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 221.1% during 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. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Barrick Gold by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,170,814 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $302,366,000 after acquiring an additional 5,080,510 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 4,713.3% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,144,456 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $69,141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,058,351 shares during the period. Finally, Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the second quarter worth approximately $66,820,000. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 0.3 %

The firm's 50 day moving average is $19.95 and its 200 day moving average is $18.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company has a market capitalization of $32.20 billion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.56.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.