Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC Sells 7,493 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC decreased its position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 55.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,916 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 7,493 shares during the period. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 57.2% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 51,592 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $5,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,783 shares in the last quarter. Up Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,228,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,070 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 4,825 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $295,000. Finally, Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AU shares. Zacks Research downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $90.75 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.46. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $43.44 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The firm has a market cap of $45.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. Analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 68.04%.

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.