Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 9,437 AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,437 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $919,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in 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 valued at $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,731,937 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $488,820,000 after purchasing an additional 26,421 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 1.5%

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $80.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.43. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $44.67 and a one year high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AU shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Roth Mkm lowered 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 note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded 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 given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.80.

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.