AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.33.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of AU opened at $82.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 1.98. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1-year low of $22.45 and a 1-year high of $89.19. The stock has a market cap of $34.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.70.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.25% and a return on equity of 24.01%. Equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,919 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,245,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 27.3% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 13.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.