Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 406.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $539,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 454.1% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 3.7%

NYSE:AU opened at $86.26 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $43.44 and a one year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 0.60.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 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 business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AU. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

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.