Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Has $8.48 Million Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. decreased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,430 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 10,520 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $8,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,748,740 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,589,484,000 after purchasing an additional 464,333 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,395,905,000 after buying an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $401,269,000 after buying an additional 738,343 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings 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 worth $361,310,000 after buying an additional 284,017 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,197,861 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $149,212,000 after buying an additional 140,410 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AU. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.33.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 7.4%

NYSE AU opened at $97.27 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $49.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $104.50 and a 200-day moving average of $88.24. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%. On average, equities research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.