USS Investment Management Ltd Grows Stock Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

USS Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 276.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 439,815 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after buying an additional 322,915 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $6,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in B. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Barrick Gold by 2.1% in the fourth 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 136.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Barrick Gold by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $223,665,000 after purchasing an additional 236,116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.82% of the company's stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

B opened at $18.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.31, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.04 and a 200 day moving average of $17.73. Barrick Gold Corp has a fifty-two week low of $17.41 and a fifty-two week high of $47.50.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:B - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on B. National Bankshares reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They set a "sell" rating on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.05.

Barrick Gold 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.

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