AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,942,807 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 193,932 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 1.18% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $426,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,380,472,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,544,918 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $178,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,236,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target 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 lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 0.1%

AU stock opened at $90.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.11. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $42.62 and a one year high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.47%.

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.