Echo45 Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 7,715 AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Echo45 Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,715 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $624,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AU. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 93.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 800,951 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $77,981,000 after purchasing an additional 387,196 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 26.7% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 202,909 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $16,413,000 after buying an additional 42,714 shares during the period. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 121.9% during the first quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC now owns 272,740 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $26,889,000 after buying an additional 149,855 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 1st quarter valued at $2,434,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 1st quarter valued at $26,190,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $108.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $55.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $92.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.31. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $58.83 and a 1 year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.03 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 32.19% and a return on equity of 38.77%. Equities research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 6.70%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.