Inspire Trust Co. N.A. Purchases 15,000 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 30.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,700 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.'s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $1,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 619.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC raised its position in Barrick Gold by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Barrick Gold by 196.9% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. 90.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on B. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. National Bankshares reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "sell" rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of B traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,373,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,582,119. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $17.41 and a 1-year high of $47.50. The stock has a market cap of $32.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:B - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.06. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Barrick Gold's payout ratio is 30.08%.

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