AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $84.43, but opened at $79.67. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $80.8420, with a volume of 860,194 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AU shares. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.37 and a 200 day moving average of $97.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%.The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,246 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% during the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,919 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.