AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Reaches New 12-Month High After Dividend Announcement

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $83.42 and last traded at $83.2280, with a volume of 1144920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.35.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AU. Zacks Research upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Roth Capital set a $76.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 5.4%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.76. The stock has a market cap of $33.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 11th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 23.60%. As a group, analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.1% during the 3rd 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 boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $361,310,000 after purchasing an additional 284,017 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $226,354,000 after buying an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,041,932 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $150,054,000 after acquiring an additional 95,668 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.