Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 103,479 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 94.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 212,690 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103,479 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $20,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AU. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,117.6% during the 1st quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 6,088 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 5,588 shares during the last quarter. Extract Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,460,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 15.2% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 118,689 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $11,556,000 after buying an additional 15,697 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 37.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 821,927 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $80,008,000 after buying an additional 223,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the first quarter worth approximately $246,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Capital reduced their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $78.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $39.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.65. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $45.36 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $85.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.44.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. As a group, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $1.16 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.04%.

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.