AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $44.04, but opened at $42.86. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $43.74, with a volume of 441,655 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AU shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $42.00 to $43.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.30.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 2.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Equities analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 3,782 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 177.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,124 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 8,401 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,043 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, abrdn plc purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $843,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.