Covington Capital Management Boosts Stock Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Covington Capital Management lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD – Get Rating) (TSE:ABX) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,948 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the quarter. Covington Capital Management’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 355.1% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the second quarter worth $29,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the second quarter worth $35,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the first quarter worth $42,000. 56.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

GOLD stock opened at $17.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.51. The company has a market capitalization of $29.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.13, a PEG ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.30. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $13.01 and a 1-year high of $25.99.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD – Get Rating) (TSE:ABX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 3.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 27th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOLD. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 21st. National Bank Financial decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from C$29.00 to C$28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Fundamental Research set a $19.02 target price on Barrick Gold and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.60.

About Barrick Gold

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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.