Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Short Interest Update

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,479,900 shares, a decline of 5.2% from the March 15th total of 13,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 21,663,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.6 days. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

GOLD stock opened at $16.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.20. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $20.75. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $28.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.074 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOLD. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. National Bank Financial reaffirmed a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Monday, April 8th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edge Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 6.3% in the first quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,255 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 725 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 28,543 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 46.8% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 10,040 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.5% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 252,672 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $4,204,000 after acquiring an additional 3,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 12.4% in the first quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 20,541 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

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.