Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys 734,202 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 4,574.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 750,251 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 734,202 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $17,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $467,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882,283 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $118,448,000 after acquiring an additional 3,764,165 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680,261 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $586,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,491,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 170.0% in the 4th quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 3,459,193 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $79,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,783 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $42.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.30.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

AU stock opened at $41.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.73. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a 52-week low of $22.13 and a 52-week high of $46.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.03.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.