AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Short Interest Update

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 7,591,606 shares, a growth of 41.6% from the February 26th total of 5,360,034 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,098,320 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AU. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 1st quarter worth $321,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,341.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 455,878 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $20,774,000 after buying an additional 424,259 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the second quarter valued at about $1,036,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the second quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the second quarter worth about $1,112,000. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of AU traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $90.54. 3,499,908 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,200,999. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $45.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 0.55. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12-month low of $31.91 and a 12-month high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.90. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.65% and a return on equity of 29.11%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.173 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.