Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Stock Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 465,126 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,912 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $7,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,182,641,000 after buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. 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. Amundi lifted its holdings in 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. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 33.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 2,854,055 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $159,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,119 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOLD. CIBC lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $19.35 on Wednesday. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $0.25 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.