Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Given New $20.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the gold and copper producer’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.84% from the company’s current price.

GOLD has been the subject of several other research reports. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. CIBC lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

GOLD traded up $0.44 on Tuesday, reaching $18.38. The company had a trading volume of 24,261,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,812,906. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.27 and a 200-day moving average of $18.16. The company has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Barrick Gold has a one year low of $14.27 and a one year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 5.82%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,060,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,585 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $996,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Barrick Gold by 136.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $516,055,000 after acquiring an additional 19,189,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $223,665,000 after acquiring an additional 236,116 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.