Fox Run Management L.L.C. Invests $372,000 in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,136 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 3,782 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $75,525,000 after buying an additional 962,141 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 297.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,120 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,900,000 after buying an additional 193,992 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% in 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 buying an additional 2,491,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,504.8% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 391,715 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $10,419,000 after buying an additional 367,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AU has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

AU opened at $35.56 on Thursday. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a 1 year low of $21.37 and a 1 year high of $36.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.04.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.