Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) to Buyback $1.00 billion in Outstanding Shares

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 6.5 %

Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.18 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Barrick Gold has a 12 month low of $13.76 and a 12 month high of $21.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.17. The stock has a market cap of $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.82% and a net margin of 13.19%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOLD. Scotiabank lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Cibc World Mkts cut Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.83.

Barrick Gold Company Profile

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.