Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Has $620.87 Million Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,386,503 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,250 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 1.26% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $620,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,380,472,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $426,477,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $179,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,186,463 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $357,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Capital cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 3.4%

NYSE AU opened at $78.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.65. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $45.36 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.74 and a 200-day moving average of $96.69.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%.The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.23 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

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.