Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 81,124 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 44% compared to the average volume of 56,155 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. CIBC dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. National Bank Financial reissued a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 9,100 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,714 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 24,555 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 59,825 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,067 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 1.7 %

Barrick Gold stock opened at $16.36 on Thursday. Barrick Gold has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $20.75. The company has a market cap of $28.72 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.16. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.34.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. Barrick Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.074 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

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.