Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Position Trimmed by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp reduced its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,945,137 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 223,349 shares during the quarter. Barrick Gold makes up 1.8% of Equity Investment Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Equity Investment Corp owned approximately 0.29% of Barrick Gold worth $76,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOLD. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 451.7% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,563 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 221.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOLD. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.46 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.21. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $14.27 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The firm has a market cap of $31.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. 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 (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Profile

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.