Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,847,500 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the August 31st total of 16,833,200 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 19,727,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on GOLD. Argus raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.60.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $20.30 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Barrick Gold has a 12 month low of $13.76 and a 12 month high of $21.21.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. Barrick Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.78%.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 100,680,644 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,821,963,000 after buying an additional 37,128,653 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,761,067 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,077,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,572 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $978,766,000 after acquiring an additional 14,138,639 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Barrick Gold by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,479,229 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $821,790,000 after acquiring an additional 6,417,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.7% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,837,028 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $314,254,000 after purchasing an additional 666,214 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.