Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 35,468 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 654,258 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,468 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $67,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AU. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 55.0% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 19,085 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,773 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,896 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter worth about $1,013,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 9.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 63,149 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,148,000 after acquiring an additional 5,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the first quarter valued at about $397,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AU. Citigroup lowered their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Freedom Capital raised AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, 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. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $76.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $87.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.81. AngloGold Ashanti PLC 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. On average, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

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.