17,735 Shares in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Acquired by North Dakota State Investment Board

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 17,735 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,979,174,000 after buying an additional 252,307 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the period. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 14.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,705,516 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $401,269,000 after acquiring an additional 738,343 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $361,310,000 after acquiring an additional 284,017 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AU. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective 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 upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of AU opened at $89.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $42.17 and a one year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $98.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.42.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.47%.

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.