Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) Rating Lowered to Hold at Freedom Broker

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Freedom Broker from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. TD reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from C$59.00 to C$58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from C$55.00 to C$58.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. National Bank Financial reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$75.00 to C$72.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from C$90.00 to C$84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$66.27.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:ABX opened at C$53.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$87.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$59.85 and a 200 day moving average of C$57.07. Barrick Gold has a 52 week low of C$43.33 and a 52 week high of C$74.00.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) (NYSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The basic materials company reported C$1.17 EPS for the quarter. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 31.60% and a return on equity of 24.57%. The business had revenue of C$6.06 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sarah Anna Ball Teslik purchased 12,613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$67.27 per share, for a total transaction of C$848,476.51. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 12,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$848,476.51. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Mark Francis Hill sold 174,778 shares of Barrick Gold stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$59.47, for a total value of C$10,394,047.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 125,914 shares in the company, valued at C$7,488,105.58. This represents a 58.13% decrease in their position. Corporate 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.