First Horizon Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 619.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 2,646 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $48,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 221.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $199,427,000 after buying an additional 6,904,934 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,854,055 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $20,379,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased 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 report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, CIBC downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $17.79 on Friday. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $14.27 and a one year high of $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

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.