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

Shares of Barrick Gold Co. (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and five have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$76.78.

ABX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$91.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$55.00 to C$65.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$65.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$80.00 to C$77.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays set a C$56.00 target price on shares of Barrick Gold and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of TSE ABX opened at C$55.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$57.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$60.37. Barrick Gold has a 52-week low of C$27.15 and a 52-week high of C$74.00. The stock has a market capitalization of C$92.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.50.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The basic materials company reported C$1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 32.04% and a return on equity of 23.48%. The firm had revenue of C$5.81 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrick Gold will post 2.2422764 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Francis Hill sold 88,000 shares of Barrick Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$57.85, for a total transaction of C$5,090,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 380,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$22,017,594.30. The trade was a 18.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Robert Ananda Paul Samek purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$55.06 per share, for a total transaction of C$550,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$1,040,634. The trade was a 112.36% increase in their position. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick is a leading global mining, exploration and development company. With one of the largest portfolios of world-class and long-life gold and copper assets in the industry – including six of the world’s Tier One gold mines -Barrick’s operations and projects span 18 countries and five continents. Barrick is also the largest gold producer in the United States. We create real, long-term value for all stakeholders through responsible mining, strong partnerships and a disciplined approach to growth.