Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd Buys New Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B) (TSE:ABX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 185,051 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,868,000. Barrick Gold comprises approximately 2.7% of Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keystone Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 56,394 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted 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 valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 285,355 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,510 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 14,909 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. 90.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Barrick Gold in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE B opened at $18.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.74. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $17.41 and a one year high of $47.50. 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 $32.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:B) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.06. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Barrick Gold’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 30.08%.

Barrick Gold announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.