Perpetual Ltd Purchases New Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 82,200 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,781,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,284,407 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,017,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,958 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the second 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,852,722 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $219,100,000 after buying an additional 87,679 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings 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 period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Zacks Research raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of AU opened at $86.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $22.45 and a 52 week high of $89.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.48 and a 200-day moving average of $63.23.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.02). AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 26.25%.The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 80.18%.

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.