AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 3,752,826 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 23% from the previous session’s volume of 3,043,532 shares.The stock last traded at $84.26 and had previously closed at $92.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market cap of $42.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $106.30 and its 200 day moving average is $86.38.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.65% and a return on equity of 29.11%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.173 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,979,174,000 after purchasing an additional 252,307 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the period. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position 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 during the period. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.