Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 23,388 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 28.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,873 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 23,388 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 221.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 24.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 659 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 196.9% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOLD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $19.41 on Thursday. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $0.25 and a one year high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.05.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued 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, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.