Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46, Zacks reports. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

GOLD traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.19. 2,574,763 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,426,535. The company has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.17. Barrick Gold has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.01%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $19.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.83.

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.