Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Sold by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,663 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 5,598 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,060,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,585 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $996,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position 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 worth $223,665,000 after purchasing an additional 236,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $159,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,119 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Canada raised Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.71.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.41 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.02. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12-month low of $15.11 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The firm has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.