Bank of Nova Scotia Has $9.21 Million Stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 94,642 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,411 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $9,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,979,174,000 after purchasing an additional 252,307 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth about $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $539,119,000 after buying an additional 5,047,686 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,731,937 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $488,820,000 after buying an additional 26,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,121,189 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $436,735,000 after buying an additional 191,859 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AU shares. Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research 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, July 16th. Roth Capital reduced their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from 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 AU stock opened at $79.70 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $85.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $45.36 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The stock has a market cap of $40.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.23 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 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.