FIL Ltd Buys 4,791,663 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 236.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,815,946 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after purchasing an additional 4,791,663 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned approximately 0.39% of Barrick Gold worth $105,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $996,802,000 after buying an additional 9,598,292 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,650,999 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $169,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,603,744 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,726,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $1,182,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP grew its stake in 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 worth $159,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company's stock.

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Barrick Gold Stock Up 7.0 %

Shares of GOLD stock traded up $1.35 on Friday, hitting $20.59. The stock had a trading volume of 41,724,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,921,418. 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 $18.49 and a 200 day moving average of $17.92. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12-month low of $15.11 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $35.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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, analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank increased their price target on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America cut shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. National Bankshares restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Barrick Gold to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.04.

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.