Westpac Banking Corp Acquires New Shares in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,548 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $132,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 142.7% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,215,136 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $18,835,000 after purchasing an additional 714,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,650,999 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $169,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,603,744 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 23,141 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 65,266 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 18,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,049,908 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $62,765,000 after purchasing an additional 216,394 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOLD shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised 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, March 5th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six 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, Barrick Gold has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $17.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market cap of $30.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $15.11 and a one year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board 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.