Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Trading Down 5.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX fell 5.5% during mid-day trading on Monday 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 $17.39 and last traded at $17.39. 8,654,659 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 21,181,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.40.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. 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 note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 31.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 14,138,639 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake 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 worth $199,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,904,934 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted 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 period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 4,713.3% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 4,058,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 5.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.56. The business's 50-day moving average price is $19.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.49.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Barrick Gold's payout ratio is currently 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.