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

U S Global Investors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 44.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,445 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,445 shares during the period. AngloGold Ashanti comprises 1.5% of U S Global Investors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $12,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,246 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% during the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,919 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital reduced their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AU traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.04. 2,180,030 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,693,510. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $45.36 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.22. The company has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 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 firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 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 dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 68.04%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.