JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Price Target to $134.00

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) had its target price reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $155.00 to $134.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the mining company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 74.59% from the company’s previous close.

AU has been the subject of several other reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Roth Capital lowered their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AU opened at $76.75 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12-month low of $45.36 and a 12-month high of $129.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.75 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.81.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after buying an additional 5,047,686 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $426,477,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after buying an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $179,286,000 after buying an additional 2,042,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.