Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Makes New Investment in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B - Free Report) TSE: ABX in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 20,062 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of B. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 136.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,293,792 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $516,055,000 after acquiring an additional 19,189,830 shares during the period. Causeway Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $172,225,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $996,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,598,292 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 236.7% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 6,815,946 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $105,692,000 after buying an additional 4,791,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth $57,991,000. 90.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on B. Bank of America lowered shares of Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Stock Up 2.0%

B stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $18.19. The company had a trading volume of 10,824,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,243,798. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1 year low of $17.41 and a 1 year high of $47.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $31.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.73.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:B - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.08%.

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