AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,651,135 shares, a drop of 53.1% from the November 30th total of 9,927,463 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,965,358 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Based on an average daily volume of 2,965,358 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,748,740 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,589,484,000 after buying an additional 464,333 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,804,620 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 14.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,705,516 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $401,269,000 after purchasing an additional 738,343 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $361,310,000 after buying an additional 284,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.6% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,197,861 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $149,212,000 after acquiring an additional 140,410 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Six 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 7.2%

Shares of NYSE:AU traded down $6.59 on Monday, hitting $84.66. 1,846,691 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,108,989. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 1.98. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12 month low of $22.45 and a 12 month high of $91.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.89.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 26.25%. Analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th were issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is 80.18%.

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.