Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 1,934,560 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 29.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,394,096 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after buying an additional 1,934,560 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.49% of Barrick Gold worth $130,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $213,000. GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 13,929 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 5,820 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 136.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $516,055,000 after buying an additional 19,189,830 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,200,788 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $18,531,000 after buying an additional 252,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Stifel Canada raised shares of Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Barrick Gold stock traded down $0.36 on Friday, hitting $19.05. 17,025,297 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,617,696. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.92. Barrick Gold Corp has a one year low of $15.11 and a one year high of $21.35. The company has a market capitalization of $32.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding 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 often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are 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.