Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 37,550 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) by 13.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 312,892 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after buying an additional 37,550 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $5,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Barrick Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 175.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

NYSE GOLD traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $17.56. The company had a trading volume of 5,569,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,588,336. Barrick Gold Corp has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $18.95. The company has a market capitalization of $30.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 2.49.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.58% and a return on equity of 4.88%. The business had revenue of $2.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. This is a positive change from Barrick Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Barrick Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. National Bank Financial reiterated a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.60.

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.