Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Bought by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 79.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,425 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,375 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $2,372,000. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 25,005 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 7,849 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 465,126 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $7,209,000 after acquiring an additional 20,912 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth $5,348,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 134,356 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $2,083,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upgraded Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE GOLD opened at $18.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.05. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $0.25 and a 1-year high of $21.35.

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

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 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio 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.