Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 535,461 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,848 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $8,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOLD. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 451.7% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 221.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 3,066 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 196.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold by 24.1% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the topic of several research reports. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.75.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of GOLD opened at $17.74 on Friday. Barrick Gold Corp has a 1-year low of $14.56 and a 1-year high of $21.35. The stock has a market cap of $30.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 6.76%. As a group, analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.