Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 50,191 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 275,342 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 50,191 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $4,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Barrick Gold by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,714 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. Oak Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 44,250 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 7,950 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in Barrick Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Skylands Capital LLC lifted its stake in Barrick Gold by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 240,150 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after acquiring an additional 27,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOLD has been the subject of several research reports. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Barrick Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.60.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 1.3 %

GOLD stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $16.68. 13,662,665 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,031,041. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52-week low of $13.76 and a 52-week high of $20.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $16.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.59.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.88% and a net margin of 12.58%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is a positive change from Barrick Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.78%.

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.