AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AU. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC cut AngloGold Ashanti from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $27.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.3 %

AU traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $29.81. 1,523,442 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,933,420. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.02. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12-month low of $14.91 and a 12-month high of $30.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.19. This represents a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.1% in the second quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 14,100 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 17.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 26.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,279 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,215 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.