Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,832,841 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 77,809 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.16% of Barrick Gold worth $43,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 221.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.61 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $32.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.14. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its 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 return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOLD. TD Securities dropped their target price on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, CIBC lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

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.