On March 10, 2023 at 11:02:37 ET an unusually large $242.40K block of Call contracts in Barrick Gold (GOLD) was bought, with a strike price of $20.00 / share, expiring in 315 days (on January 19, 2024). Fintel tracks all large options trades, and the premium spent on this trade was 2.04 sigmas above the mean, placing it in the 97.69 percentile of all recent large trades made in GOLD options.

This trade was first picked up on Fintel’s real time Unusual Option Trades tool, where unusual option trades are highlighted.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 42.04% Upside

As of March 9, 2023, the average one-year price target for Barrick Gold is $22.12. The forecasts range from a low of $18.25 to a high of $28.35. The average price target represents an increase of 42.04% from its latest reported closing price of $15.57.

See our leaderboard of companies with the largest price target upside.

The projected annual revenue for Barrick Gold is $11,566MM. The projected annual non-GAAP EPS is $0.78.

What is the Fund Sentiment?

There are 1091 funds or institutions reporting positions in Barrick Gold. This is an increase of 15 owner(s) or 1.39% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to GOLD is 0.55%, an increase of 2.16%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 0.12% to 1,217,861K shares. The put/call ratio of GOLD is 0.54, indicating a bullish outlook.

What are Large Shareholders Doing?

Van Eck Associates holds 81,780K shares representing 4.66% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 75,562K shares, representing an increase of 7.60%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in GOLD by 4.15% over the last quarter.

GDX – VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF holds 70,706K shares representing 4.03% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 64,407K shares, representing an increase of 8.91%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in GOLD by 4.64% over the last quarter.

Flossbach Von Storch holds 47,706K shares representing 2.72% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 49,178K shares, representing a decrease of 3.09%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in GOLD by 11.47% over the last quarter.

First Eagle Investment Management holds 42,274K shares representing 2.41% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 42,899K shares, representing a decrease of 1.48%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in GOLD by 0.15% over the last quarter.

Royal Bank Of Canada holds 40,845K shares representing 2.33% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 44,601K shares, representing a decrease of 9.20%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in GOLD by 87.98% over the last quarter.

Barrick Gold Declares $0.10 Dividend

On February 15, 2023 the company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share ($0.40 annualized). Shareholders of record as of February 28, 2023 will receive the payment on March 15, 2023. Previously, the company paid $0.05 per share.

At the current share price of $15.57 / share, the stock’s dividend yield is 2.57%. Looking back five years and taking a sample every week, the average dividend yield has been 2.33%, the lowest has been 1.35%, and the highest has been 4.10%. The standard deviation of yields is 0.62 (n=237).

The current dividend yield is 0.38 standard deviations above the historical average.

Additionally, the company’s dividend payout ratio is 1.63. The payout ratio tells us how much of a company’s income is paid out in dividends. A payout ratio of one (1.0) means 100% of the company’s income is paid in a dividend. A payout ratio greater than one means the company is dipping into savings in order to maintain its dividend – not a healthy situation. Companies with few growth prospects are expected to pay out most of their income in dividends, which typically means a payout ratio between 0.5 and 1.0. Companies with good growth prospects are expected to retain some earnings in order to invest in those growth prospects, which translates to a payout ratio of zero to 0.5.

The company has not increased its dividend in the last three years.

Barrick Gold Background Information
(This description is provided by the company.)

Barrick Gold Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. Barrick has mining operations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Zambia. The company was founded in 1983, and is headquartered in Toronto.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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