Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 580,824 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:B) (TSE:ABX) by 77.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 168,779 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock after selling 580,824 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Barrick Gold were worth $3,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Barrick Gold by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,146 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter worth approximately $257,000. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new stake in Barrick Gold in the 1st quarter worth approximately $210,000. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 167,959 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $3,265,000 after acquiring an additional 12,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,110 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.82% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE B opened at $21.59 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.98. The firm has a market cap of $37.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.27. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $17.41 and a 52 week high of $47.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:B) (TSE:ABX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. Barrick Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is presently 30.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on B shares. Stifel Canada upgraded Barrick Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Barrick Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Barrick Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.05.

Barrick Gold Company 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.