Highland Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Highland Capital Management LLC cut its position in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,350 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOLD. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 35.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 63,551,991 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $925,121,000 after acquiring an additional 16,485,756 shares in the last quarter. Snider Financial Group acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the first quarter valued at $185,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 13.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 42,464,736 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $788,570,000 after acquiring an additional 5,188,456 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Barrick Gold by 12.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 43,399,480 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $631,228,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kopernik Global Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the second quarter valued at $74,934,000. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $16.21 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52-week low of $13.76 and a 52-week high of $20.75.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 4.64%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.074 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOLD shares. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. National Bank Financial reissued a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a report on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

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.