Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 98,250 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 1.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,386,503 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 98,250 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $620,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at about $426,477,000. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,577,807 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,042,357 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,186,463 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $357,022,000 after acquiring an additional 1,641,545 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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. Weiss Ratings downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Roth Capital reduced their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Freedom Capital raised AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $78.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.65. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $45.36 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.69. 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 (NYSE:AU) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. As a group, research analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. 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.