Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$30.17.

ABX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from C$33.50 to C$32.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$37.00 to C$36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a C$34.00 target price on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of ABX opened at C$22.60 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is C$24.92 and its 200 day moving average is C$25.21. Barrick Gold has a 12-month low of C$18.65 and a 12-month high of C$29.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.54. The stock has a market cap of C$39.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.48.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.135 per share. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 45.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Poupak Bahamin bought 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$25.03 per share, for a total transaction of C$144,645.87. Also, Director Dennis Mark Bristow purchased 85,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$25.03 per share, for a total transaction of C$2,135,291.53. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, mine development, production, and sale of gold and copper properties in Canada and internationally. The company also explores and sells silver and energy materials. It has ownership interests in producing gold mines located in Argentina, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Mali, Tanzania, and the United States.