Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,806,500 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 144,425 shares during the period. Barrick Gold makes up 1.4% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Barrick Gold worth $74,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 136.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $516,055,000 after buying an additional 19,189,830 shares during the last quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth $172,225,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $996,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,598,292 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Barrick Gold by 236.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 6,815,946 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $105,692,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $57,991,000. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

NYSE:GOLD opened at $18.83 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.09 and its 200 day moving average is $17.79. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $15.11 and a fifty-two week 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.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.08%.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOLD. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 5th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.05.

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.