Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Sold by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,663 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 5,598 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $996,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,598,292 shares during the period. Allianz SE purchased a new stake in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth $33,726,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP increased its position 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 valued at $159,180,000 after buying an additional 1,325,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after buying an additional 1,195,585 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOLD. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group upgraded Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. National Bank Financial raised Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Canada raised Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.71.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.41 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $18.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.02. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

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.