Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Has $473,000 Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,510 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 2,317,580 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $46,097,000 after buying an additional 413,012 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,711,000. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 330.5% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 99,240 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,974,000 after buying an additional 76,186 shares during the period. Finally, Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $22,630,000 after buying an additional 720,000 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOLD shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Scotiabank lifted 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. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE:GOLD opened at $18.61 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.86 and a 200-day moving average of $18.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Barrick Gold Corp has a twelve month low of $15.11 and a twelve month high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

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

Barrick Gold announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.