Great Diamond Partners LLC Acquires 21,745 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Great Diamond Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 118.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,170 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,745 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $3,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,408,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,728,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $361,310,000 after acquiring an additional 284,017 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,777,000. Finally, Sprott Inc. grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 770,670 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $54,201,000 after acquiring an additional 16,828 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AU. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $92.99 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.59. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $42.17 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%.The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. On average, research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 101.47%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.