AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 17.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 152,293 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 22,229 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $10,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 27.2% during the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,257 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 1.3%

AU opened at $127.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. The company has a market capitalization of $64.49 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.77 and its 200-day moving average is $81.89. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $28.44 and a one year high of $128.54.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 70.13%.

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.