AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $114.00.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Scotiabank decreased their price target 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $93.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.69 and a 200 day moving average of $97.37. The firm has a market cap of $47.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1 year low of $43.44 and a 1 year high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.04%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,246 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,919 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.