Trexquant Investment LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 142.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,215,136 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after acquiring an additional 714,497 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.07% of Barrick Gold worth $18,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 32.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. Allianz SE bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,726,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $159,180,000 after buying an additional 1,325,119 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Barrick Gold from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

GOLD stock traded down $1.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.91. The stock had a trading volume of 21,429,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,809,680. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.03. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52-week low of $15.11 and a 52-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. The stock has a market cap of $30.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership 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.