Barrick Gold Corporation’s (ABX) Gains Ground on Financial Results and Debt Reduction but It’s Not Out of the Woods Yet

As the current round of 13F filings is not over yet, we cannot fully assess the sentiment of hedge funds regarding Barrick as of the end of June. However, in its 13F for the second quarter, Eric Sprott‘s Sprott Asset Management disclosed holding 421,600 shares of the company, which represents an increase of almost 303,700 shares over the quarter. Moreover, at the end of March, the largest shareholder of Barrick in our database was First-Eagle Investment Management, which owned 29.2 million shares, followed by David Greenspan’s Slate Path Capital with 16.65 million shares. 

On the other hand, during the second quarter, Ken Griffin‘s Citadel Advisors closed its entire position in Barrick Gold Corporation’s (NYSE:ABX), which previously contained 940,375 shares and disposed of ‘Put’ options underlying some 1.29 million shares. Citadel disclosed holding ‘Call’ options underlying 599,900 shares as of the end of June, down by 23% on the quarter.

Barrick Gold Corporation’s (NYSE:ABX) is still at risk, especially with declining gold prices. Despite the gains in the last couple of days, the stock is down by 33% year-to-date, and is trading close to its 52-week low of $6.52. Another sign that the company is not out of the woods yet, is the decision of the Board of Directors to cut dividends by 60% to $0.02 per share. Moreover, with analysts not expecting a rebound in the gold prices anytime soon, the stock of Barrick represents a rather uncertain investment.

Disclosure: none