Ameriprise Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,426,073 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after selling 240,131 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.72% of Barrick Gold worth $192,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 196.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

NYSE GOLD traded down $0.54 on Thursday, reaching $18.87. 21,204,009 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,643,825. The stock has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12 month low of $15.11 and a 12 month high of $21.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.86. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOLD. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Stifel Canada raised shares of Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.05.

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.