Barings LLC Sells 129,632 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Barings LLC cut its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 539,228 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 129,632 shares during the quarter. AngloGold Ashanti makes up about 0.9% of Barings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Barings LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $46,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,979,174,000 after buying an additional 252,307 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,395,905,000 after buying an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $1,380,472,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,705,516 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $401,269,000 after acquiring an additional 738,343 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position 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 valued at $361,310,000 after acquiring an additional 284,017 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $83.38 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $97.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.26. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a twelve month low of $43.44 and a twelve month high of $129.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $42.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.60.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

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.