AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AU shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 3,782 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $75,525,000 after purchasing an additional 962,141 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 297.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,120 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,900,000 after purchasing an additional 193,992 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in 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 worth $586,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,130 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,504.8% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 391,715 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $10,419,000 after buying an additional 367,306 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 2.3 %

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $37.00 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.15. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1-year low of $21.65 and a 1-year high of $38.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.