Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Barrick Gold Call Options (NYSE:GOLD)

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 67,756 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 47% compared to the average daily volume of 46,023 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOLD. National Bank Financial restated a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Barrick Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Barrick Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the third quarter worth about $2,910,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $1,331,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 204.2% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 249,017 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $4,505,000 after acquiring an additional 167,145 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 53.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 524,618 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $7,633,000 after purchasing an additional 183,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 10.9% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,995,217 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $255,406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $16.64 on Friday. Barrick Gold has a twelve month low of $13.76 and a twelve month high of $20.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.04. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.06. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 11.16%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.074 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. 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.