AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading 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 trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, 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 report on Friday, March 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.80.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.60. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $93.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.31.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%.The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.5% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 264,855 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $25,706,000 after purchasing an additional 74,855 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 93.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 800,951 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $77,981,000 after purchasing an additional 387,196 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 42.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,698 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 212,690 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $20,708,000 after purchasing an additional 103,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.