Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,205 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 221.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 196.9% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 24.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group upgraded Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Raymond James cut their target price on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $18.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $15.11 and a one year high of $21.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.86 and its 200-day moving average is $18.16.

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

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.