Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 394,746 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,976,012 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 394,746 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $46,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOLD. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 702,023 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $10,881,000 after purchasing an additional 11,662 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 17,598 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 4,535 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $159,000. Finally, Prudential PLC boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 40,112 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 18,684 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 9.0 %

Shares of GOLD opened at $17.64 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.17 and a 200 day moving average of $17.98. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $15.11 and a 1-year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOLD shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. National Bank Financial upgraded Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.