Zions Bancorporation N.A. Sells 755 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lowered its stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,157 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 755 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,613 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 80,366 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,073,717 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $78,637,000 after acquiring an additional 128,203 shares during the last quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Crocodile Capital Partners GmbH now owns 1,460,000 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $22,630,000 after acquiring an additional 720,000 shares in the last quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC grew its position in Barrick Gold by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC now owns 604,199 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $12,018,000 after acquiring an additional 161,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $700,000. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOLD shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Barrick Gold to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 0.2 %

Barrick Gold stock opened at $19.32 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12-month low of $0.25 and a 12-month high of $21.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.71 and its 200 day moving average is $18.04. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to purchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.