Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 1,804,620 shares during the quarter. AngloGold Ashanti accounts for 1.3% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $1,395,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 129.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 490 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,023 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AU shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Zacks Research downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $108.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.40. The stock has a market cap of $54.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 0.55. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $30.19 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%. As a group, analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 70.13%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.