AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.00.

AU has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $467,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882,283 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $118,448,000 after acquiring an additional 3,764,165 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $277,968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,304 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after buying an additional 2,680,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $586,504,000 after buying an additional 2,491,130 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $31.29 on Thursday. AngloGold Ashanti has a 52-week low of $20.05 and a 52-week high of $33.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.62 and a 200-day moving average of $27.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. As a group, analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.