Bcwm LLC Acquires New Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Bcwm LLC bought a new position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 62,537 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,585 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 worth $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $223,665,000 after buying an additional 236,116 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $159,180,000 after buying an additional 1,325,119 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOLD shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Canada raised shares of Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GOLD opened at $19.11 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.04. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The firm has a market cap of $32.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. 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 (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold Company 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.