Barometer Capital Management Inc. Acquires 7,000 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Barometer Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 78.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,900 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Barometer Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $1,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,748,740 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,589,484,000 after acquiring an additional 464,333 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $361,310,000 after purchasing an additional 284,017 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,197,861 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $149,212,000 after purchasing an additional 140,410 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AU shares. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $106.29 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $30.94 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.53 and a 200-day moving average of $84.93. The company has a market capitalization of $53.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48 and a beta of 0.55.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.