AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) shares gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $90.87, but opened at $85.98. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $85.7080, with a volume of 854,127 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AU. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 6.5%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%.The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $361,310,000 after acquiring an additional 284,017 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth about $13,777,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth about $1,139,000. Sprott Inc. raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 770,670 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $54,201,000 after purchasing an additional 16,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,523,000. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.