AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Receives $86.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $88.50.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:AU opened at $102.95 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68 and a beta of 0.58. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1-year low of $27.44 and a 1-year high of $107.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.02). AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 26.25%.The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 80.18%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,767.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,788,123 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $127,027,000 after buying an additional 2,638,823 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,137,721 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $142,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300,204 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,395,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the second quarter worth $74,039,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AngloGold Ashanti

AngloGold Ashanti is a global gold mining company engaged in the exploration, development, production, processing and sale of gold. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company’s core activities span the full mining value chain from greenfield exploration and mine development through to ore processing and rehabilitation. Gold is the primary commodity produced, with individual operations sometimes yielding other by‑products depending on local geology and processing methods.

The company was formed in 2004 through the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields, creating a diversified international gold producer.