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

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 83,644 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 80% compared to the typical daily volume of 46,363 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.67.

Institutional Trading of Barrick Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC increased its position in Barrick Gold by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,826 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 18,163 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 198.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 115,395 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $2,295,000 after buying an additional 6,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 95.7% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 321,166 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $6,387,000 after buying an additional 157,050 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

GOLD opened at $18.47 on Friday. Barrick Gold has a 1-year low of $13.76 and a 1-year high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $31.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.06.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS 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, equities analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.01%.

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.