Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Sold by Smith Moore & CO.

Smith Moore & CO. cut its position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,738 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 1,440 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 29.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 849,730 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $16,890,000 after acquiring an additional 194,130 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $463,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 7.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 65,185 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 4,554 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 11.3% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 22,879 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third 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 buying an additional 1,458,084 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 9.0 %

GOLD stock opened at $17.64 on Friday. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $15.11 and a 52 week 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 company 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. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.99.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. On average, research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.79.

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.