American Century Companies Inc. Has $33.47 Million Stock Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,159,280 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,551 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $33,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $9,630,000 after acquiring an additional 80,366 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 128,203 shares during the last quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $22,630,000 after purchasing an additional 720,000 shares during the period. Chiron Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 36.5% in the third quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 604,199 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $12,018,000 after purchasing an additional 161,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $700,000. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 2.3 %

GOLD stock opened at $19.11 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $32.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.85 and a 200-day moving average of $18.05.

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

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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 $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOLD. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Company 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.