AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $79.34, but opened at $81.64. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $81.8120, with a volume of 770,037 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AU. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Roth Mkm cut their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.80.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 3.2%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.42. The firm has a market cap of $41.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,979,174,000 after purchasing an additional 252,307 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,395,905,000 after buying an additional 1,804,620 shares during the period. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,386,503 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $620,874,000 after buying an additional 98,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,731,937 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $488,820,000 after acquiring an additional 26,421 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.