SouthState Corp Lowers Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

SouthState Corp decreased its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 380,187 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 88,257 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $5,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the 4th 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 grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,458,084 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $223,665,000 after acquiring an additional 236,116 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 33.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854,055 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $159,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.80 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.06. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $0.25 and a 52 week high of $21.35. The company has a market capitalization of $32.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG 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 (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on GOLD shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC lowered Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

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.