Employees Retirement System of Texas Boosts Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 252.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,949 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after acquiring an additional 62,302 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 19,189,830 shares in the last quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $172,225,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 236.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 6,815,946 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $105,692,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,991,000. 90.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Barrick Gold stock traded up $0.20 on Friday, reaching $19.20. The company had a trading volume of 16,844,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,812,768. The firm has a market cap of $33.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $19.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.77. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1 year low of $17.41 and a 1 year high of $47.50. 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:B - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold's payout ratio is currently 30.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on B shares. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. TD Securities dropped 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Barrick Gold to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.