Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) is Holowesko Partners Ltd.’s 3rd Largest Position

Holowesko Partners Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 121.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,319,200 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 723,200 shares during the quarter. Barrick Gold comprises approximately 9.4% of Holowesko Partners Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Holowesko Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $20,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,182,641,000 after buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,358,533 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,060,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,585 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Barrick Gold by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 54,712,508 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $1,088,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,084 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,120,278 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $223,665,000 after acquiring an additional 236,116 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP boosted its position in Barrick Gold by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 10,269,848 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $159,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,119 shares during the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Canada raised Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GOLD opened at $19.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12 month low of $15.11 and a 12 month high of $21.35. 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 50-day moving average price of $17.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.04.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.