Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Sold by Aviso Financial Inc.

Aviso Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 104,430 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 607 shares during the quarter. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,182,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,084 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake 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 valued at $223,665,000 after acquiring an additional 236,116 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,854,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $159,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOLD shares. Bank of America cut Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. TD Securities decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. CIBC cut Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.73 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $15.11 and a 52 week high of $21.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.09 and a 200-day moving average of $18.10.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. On average, analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.