Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 9,598,292 Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD - Free Report) TSE: ABX by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,310,800 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock after buying an additional 9,598,292 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 3.73% of Barrick Gold worth $996,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOLD. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 619.7% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,073 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Barrick Gold by 119.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 4,848 shares of the gold and copper producer's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. 62.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GOLD. UBS Group upgraded shares of Barrick Gold from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Barrick Gold from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stifel Canada raised Barrick Gold to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America lowered Barrick Gold from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.79.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

GOLD stock traded down $1.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.64. 37,310,992 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,839,948. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.01. Barrick Gold Corp has a 52 week low of $15.11 and a 52 week high of $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) TSE: ABX last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 16.59%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Barrick Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Barrick Gold declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the gold and copper producer to repurchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.