Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Stake Lowered by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 70,516 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 2,562 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 221.1% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $199,427,000 after purchasing an additional 6,904,934 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 33.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after buying an additional 2,854,055 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,084 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $20,379,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP grew its position in Barrick Gold by 114.3% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,447,251 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $28,786,000 after acquiring an additional 771,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank lowered Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $23.00 to $19.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Barrick Gold from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.83.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 6.5 %

Shares of Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $31.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.55. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1 year low of $13.76 and a 1 year high of $21.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 5.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.01%.

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