AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on AU. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Roth Capital dropped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $76.75 on Wednesday. AngloGold Ashanti has a twelve month low of $45.36 and a twelve month high of $129.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $87.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.81. The company has a market capitalization of $38.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. As a group, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at about $426,477,000. State Street Corp increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $179,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042,357 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.