Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at UBS Group

UBS Group cut shares of Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX - Free Report) NYSE: ABX from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

ABX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$31.00 to C$33.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$28.50 to C$33.50 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Argus upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight Capital upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$36.00 to C$38.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a C$34.00 price target on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$30.77.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 3.5 %

ABX traded down C$0.97 during trading on Wednesday, hitting C$26.91. The company had a trading volume of 3,721,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,550,414. The company has a market cap of C$47.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$27.44 and a 200-day moving average of C$25.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.54, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 2.62. Barrick Gold has a 1-year low of C$18.65 and a 1-year high of C$29.50.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX - Get Free Report) NYSE: ABX last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The basic materials company reported C$0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.36 by C$0.08. The firm had revenue of C$4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of C$4.12 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 7.20%. As a group, analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 2.2422764 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.138 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from Barrick Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.55 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christopher Lewis Coleman sold 121,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$28.10, for a total value of C$3,409,485.40. In other news, Director Christopher Lewis Coleman sold 121,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$28.10, for a total value of C$3,409,485.40. Also, Senior Officer Riaan Grobler sold 94,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$18.99, for a total value of C$1,784,693.40. Insiders sold 235,334 shares of company stock worth $5,741,477 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, mine development, production, and sale of gold and copper properties in Canada and internationally. The company also explores and sells silver and energy materials. It has ownership interests in producing gold mines located in Argentina, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Mali, Tanzania, and the United States.