AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.80.

AU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.1% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 11,353 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,799 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Forefront Wealth Management Inc. now owns 38,529 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,430,000 after buying an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Sprott Inc. lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 91,168 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 210.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 5.3 %

AU stock opened at $43.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12 month low of $21.65 and a 12 month high of $46.90.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.