Bank of Nova Scotia Trims Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 46.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,696,415 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 4,977,627 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $88,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,060,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,585 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $996,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,598,292 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $223,665,000 after acquiring an additional 236,116 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Barrick Gold by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,650,999 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $169,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,603,744 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. National Bankshares reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Barrick Gold stock opened at $17.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.20 and a 200-day moving average of $17.96. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $15.11 and a 1-year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign 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.