Sapient Capital LLC Makes New $2.21 Million Investment in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 122,319 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,213,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 80,933,517 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $1,464,070,000 after acquiring an additional 7,150,142 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 16,485,756 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,567,785 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $910,361,000 after buying an additional 956,452 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,731,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Barrick Gold by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 18,783,046 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $339,524,000 after acquiring an additional 787,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE GOLD traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.46. 16,806,390 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,962,524. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $28.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.59. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.04. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.89% and a net margin of 12.58%. The company had revenue of $2.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Barrick Gold’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This is an increase from Barrick Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 48.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target on Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.06.

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.