AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 202,909 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,714 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $16,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at about $426,477,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $179,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $97.88 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.61. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a fifty-two week low of $52.05 and a fifty-two week high of $129.14. The firm has a market cap of $49.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by ($0.05). AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 39.54% and a net margin of 32.19%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

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.