First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 37,453 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 100.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,788 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after purchasing an additional 37,453 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,182,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $1,060,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,585 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $996,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 136.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $516,055,000 after purchasing an additional 19,189,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $223,665,000 after buying an additional 236,116 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 3.0 %

Barrick Gold stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.83. 21,204,009 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,643,839. 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 Corp has a 52-week low of $15.11 and a 52-week high of $21.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Barrick Gold's quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold's payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GOLD. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America lowered 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 research report on Monday, January 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.05.

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.