Lafayette Investments Inc. Purchases 5,712 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Lafayette Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 1.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 349,052 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 5,712 shares during the period. Barrick Gold accounts for approximately 1.5% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $6,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 31.6% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 58,820,050 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $978,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,138,639 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 38.8% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 18,170,814 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $302,366,000 after acquiring an additional 5,080,510 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 4,713.3% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,144,456 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $69,141,000 after acquiring an additional 4,058,351 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the second quarter valued at about $66,820,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its stake in Barrick Gold by 82.1% in the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 5,302,815 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $88,239,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GOLD traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $20.55. 2,652,326 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,965,467. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 3.01. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $13.76 and a 52 week high of $21.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.30.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 12.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus raised Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Barrick Gold from $26.50 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.60.

About Barrick Gold

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.