Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Holdings Boosted by RWC Asset Management LLP

RWC Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,254,263 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 409,677 shares during the period. Barrick Gold comprises 2.5% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $50,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in Barrick Gold by 208.8% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 177,659 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $2,754,000 after buying an additional 120,129 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $499,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 619.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,051 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,614,000. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James cut their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE:GOLD opened at $18.31 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 company has a market cap of $31.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1 year low of $14.27 and a 1 year high of $21.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.20.

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 for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 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.