AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Trading Down 7.5% – Time to Sell?

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)’s stock price fell 7.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $89.21 and last traded at $89.59. 819,109 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 2,838,495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AU. Scotiabank dropped 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 6.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The company has a market cap of $45.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.86.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 37.17%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 68.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 129.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 490 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.