Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 128,203 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,073,717 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 128,203 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Barrick Gold worth $78,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 221.1% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,027,811 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $199,427,000 after buying an additional 6,904,934 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 33.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,431,497 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $227,524,000 after buying an additional 2,854,055 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,299,834 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,182,641,000 after buying an additional 1,563,361 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,088,484,000 after buying an additional 1,458,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the third quarter worth about $20,379,000. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOLD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities reduced their target price on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, CIBC lowered Barrick Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Barrick Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Barrick Gold stock opened at $18.17 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.11. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52-week low of $15.11 and a 52-week high of $21.35. The firm has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89.

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

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.