The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 36.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,258,681 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 4,172,816 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $112,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Keystone Financial Group boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 56,394 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,051 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 285,355 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 22,025 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. StockNews.com raised Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Barrick Gold

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.