Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Boosts Stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 406.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 5,047,686 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 1.25% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $539,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth $13,777,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth $1,139,000. Sprott Inc. raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 770,670 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $54,201,000 after purchasing an additional 16,828 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth $6,523,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AU shares. Zacks Research cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

AU stock opened at $86.26 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $97.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.19. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12-month low of $43.44 and a 12-month high of $129.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

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.