Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Buys Shares of 153,009 Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 153,009 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,372,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 619.7% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. BNP Paribas lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 221.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 196.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 24.1% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOLD shares. Cibc World Mkts lowered Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. CIBC lowered Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.41 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.05. The firm has a market cap of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52-week low of $0.25 and a 52-week high of $21.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Barrick Gold Company 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.