Barrick Gold Lifting Dividend as Earnings Surge
- July 29, 2010
- Dividend News, Dividend Stocks
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Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX: 49.07 -1.53%) is lifting their quarterly dividend by 20% as earnings surge on record high gold prices.
The gold stock will increase their quarterly dividend to $.12 per share. Following the dividend increase, ABX shares will yield 1.2% based on yesterday’s closing price.
The dividend increase comes as Barrick reported second quarter earnings jumped 59% over last year on a 34% increase in revenue. The gold mining stock’s strong performance was driven by record-high gold prices that have risen 30% from last year’s level.
Barrick Gold is very optimistic about its current financial position with $3.9 billion in cash and their ability to generate strong cash flows ($2.1 billion in operating cash flow in the past 6 months). The company has increased their dividend by 120% over the past five years as gold prices have continued to increase.
Barrick’s strong earnings performance is in contrast to Newmont Mining which boosted their dividend by 50% yesterday, but saw earnings fall short of Wall Street’s expectations.
Barrick had previously paid dividends on a semi-annual basis, but will transition to a quarterly dividend going forward. The increased dividend will be payable on September 15, 2010 to shareholders of record as of August 31, 2010.
