Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,974 AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,974 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $680,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the 1st quarter worth approximately $321,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,023 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 106.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,734 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 88.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 136,543 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,200,000 after purchasing an additional 64,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,740,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.20.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 0.1%

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $109.13 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.34. 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 PLC has a 12 month low of $38.61 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The stock has a market cap of $55.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03 and a beta of 0.66.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.65% and a return on equity of 29.11%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.173 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 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.