AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Bought by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 125.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,544,918 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,417,775 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned 0.61% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $178,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 274.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,137,721 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $142,986,000 after buying an additional 2,300,204 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the second quarter worth about $74,039,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 6.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,284,407 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,017,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 376.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,475,297 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $103,758,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,954 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of AU opened at $106.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48 and a beta of 0.55. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $30.94 and a 1 year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.93.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.65% and a return on equity of 29.70%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. Analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.173 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 133.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.