Trexquant Investment LP Purchases 714,497 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 142.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,215,136 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 714,497 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.07% of Barrick Gold worth $18,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 2,646 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Barrick Gold by 196.9% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 119.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 4,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.41 on Tuesday. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12 month low of $15.11 and a 12 month high of $21.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.92 and a 200 day moving average of $18.02.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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 repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOLD. National Bank Financial raised shares of Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities cut their price objective 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. Stifel Canada raised Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.71.

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.