Sprott Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Sprott Inc. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 63.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 121,426 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,998 shares during the quarter. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $227,524,000 after buying an additional 2,854,055 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 221.1% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $199,427,000 after buying an additional 6,904,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,047,255 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $162,140,000 after buying an additional 696,556 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities dropped their price objective 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. Raymond James reduced their target price on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE GOLD opened at $18.09 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $16.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.21. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $14.27 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The company has a market cap of $31.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. 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 (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.