Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Purchases Shares of 153,009 Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 153,009 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock, valued at approximately $2,372,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOLD. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 221.1% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $199,427,000 after buying an additional 6,904,934 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 33.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $227,524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854,055 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 2.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,088,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,084 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $159,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,119 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOLD. CIBC downgraded Barrick Gold from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. TD Securities cut their target price on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Barrick Gold stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $18.91. 14,732,461 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,564,067. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12 month low of $0.25 and a 12 month high of $21.35. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $17.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were 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 was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's payout ratio is 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold 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.