Alps Advisors Inc. Buys 43,139 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 29.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 188,960 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,139 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $13,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the second quarter worth $1,116,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 40,166 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after buying an additional 4,545 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 527,391 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $24,033,000 after buying an additional 37,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 102.6% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,101 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 6,636 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AU. Scotiabank boosted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $92.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 5.3%

NYSE AU opened at $103.85 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $92.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $28.44 and a 52 week high of $115.81.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 26.25%. As a group, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 80.18%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.