Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Purchases New Stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 16,687 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,073,717 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $78,637,000 after buying an additional 128,203 shares in the last quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $22,630,000 after buying an additional 720,000 shares during the period. Chiron Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 604,199 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $12,018,000 after buying an additional 161,688 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $700,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOLD shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. National Bankshares reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

NYSE GOLD opened at $17.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.94. Barrick Gold Corp has a twelve month low of $15.11 and a twelve month high of $21.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89.

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

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

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

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.