Cerity Partners LLC Makes New Investment in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,400 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $467,795,000 after buying an additional 3,882,283 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $118,448,000 after buying an additional 3,764,165 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $63,503,000 after buying an additional 2,680,261 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,569,868 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $59,313,000 after buying an additional 1,045,335 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,337,673 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $86,774,000 after buying an additional 386,078 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AU. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $42.00 to $43.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.08.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 0.6%

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $50.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52 and a beta of 0.48. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $22.45 and a 52-week high of $51.93.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 21.18%. Sell-side analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.14%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

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.