Sei Investments Co. Sells 36,184 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Sei Investments Co. lowered its stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 609,387 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 36,184 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.12% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $59,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,777,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,139,000. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,523,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 606.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,054 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $918,000 after acquiring an additional 11,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC now owns 122,885 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $10,556,000 after acquiring an additional 14,673 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.6%

AU stock opened at $79.70 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $45.36 and a one year high of $129.14. The stock has a market cap of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $85.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. Equities analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.23 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is 68.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AU. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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 AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Roth Capital dropped their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.