U S Global Investors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

U S Global Investors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 45.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 90,000 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 73,864 shares during the quarter. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $7,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AU. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at $887,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at $1,408,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 7.7% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 259,363 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $18,241,000 after acquiring an additional 18,457 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at $3,728,000. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at $2,876,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $96.72 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $104.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.19. The company has a market capitalization of $48.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $38.61 and a 52 week high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. As a group, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.173 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 133.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AU. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of 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. Zacks Research cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.20.

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.