AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $42.00. The stock had previously closed at $42.57, but opened at $43.83. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $43.44, with a volume of 940,366 shares changing hands.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on AU. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $586,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,491,130 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $467,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,882,283 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $118,448,000 after purchasing an additional 3,764,165 shares during the period. Carrhae Capital LLP raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 170.0% in the 4th quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 3,459,193 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $79,838,000 after buying an additional 2,177,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after buying an additional 2,680,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.72 and a 200 day moving average of $28.96. The firm has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.