Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) Shares Acquired by Axa S.A.

AXA S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,224,845 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after purchasing an additional 109,571 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned 0.07% of Barrick Gold worth $18,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the third quarter worth $517,000. Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth about $210,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 22,025 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $700,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 5th. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GOLD traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $18.83. 21,204,009 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,643,839. The firm has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12-month low of $15.11 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $19.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.85.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

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

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.