Ascent Group LLC Takes Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Ascent Group LLC bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,214 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AU. Northern Trust Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at $7,262,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,135 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 613,889 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $14,169,000 after purchasing an additional 50,071 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,095,964 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $24,452,000 after purchasing an additional 80,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,549,978 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $35,773,000 after purchasing an additional 835,547 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.60.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.1%

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $66.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $27.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63 and a beta of 0.54. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $22.45 and a one year high of $66.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.11.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The mining company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 23.60%. On average, analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.69. This represents a dividend yield of 610.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.11%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.