Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Stock

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $42.00 to $43.50 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the mining company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.85% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on AU. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.30.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU traded down $4.47 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.33. 1,918,886 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,521,100. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.82 and its 200-day moving average is $30.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.48. AngloGold Ashanti has a twelve month low of $22.13 and a twelve month high of $46.90.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $467,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,882,283 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $118,448,000 after buying an additional 3,764,165 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after buying an additional 2,680,261 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $586,504,000 after buying an additional 2,491,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 170.0% in the fourth quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 3,459,193 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $79,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,783 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.