Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Lowers Stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,777,848 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after selling 84,319 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.39% of Barrick Gold worth $105,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 3.5% during the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 55,875 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $517,000. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $210,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 25.2% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 49,700 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 19.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $9,630,000 after buying an additional 80,366 shares during the period. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOLD shares. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. TD Securities reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Barrick Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 3.8 %

Barrick Gold stock traded down $0.73 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.32. 8,803,642 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,469,119. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $18.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.91. The company has a market capitalization of $31.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. 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.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

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.