AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Short Interest Down 51.8% in March

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,656,810 shares, a drop of 51.8% from the March 15th total of 7,591,606 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,218,577 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,246 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.5%

AU opened at $109.13 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $104.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.17. The company has a market capitalization of $55.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03 and a beta of 0.66. AngloGold Ashanti has a 52 week low of $38.61 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.90. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%. Analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.173 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.