Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Stake Raised by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 423,350 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,900 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $6,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 3,254,263 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $50,441,000 after purchasing an additional 409,677 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 208.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 120,129 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $499,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,051 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $18.31 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.38 and a 200-day moving average of $18.20. 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 PE ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $14.27 and a one year high of $21.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase 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 Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOLD. Scotiabank upped their price target on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group cut Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.