Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 98.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 779 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 57,168 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $55,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AU. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 13.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% in 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. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 27.2% in the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,257 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 91,793 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $92.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $94.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 1.98. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $28.44 and a 1 year high of $115.81. The firm has a market cap of $39.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.00.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.02). AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.25% and a return on equity of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. Analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 80.18%.

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.