AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Stock Short Interest Declines 37.3%

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,853,330 shares, a drop of 37.3% from the August 31st total of 6,149,659 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,240,804 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup cut their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.14.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,386,503 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $620,874,000 after acquiring an additional 98,250 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,121,189 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $436,735,000 after acquiring an additional 191,859 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,186,463 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $357,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,545 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,012,801 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $171,971,000 after purchasing an additional 163,680 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,930,737 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $156,214,000 after purchasing an additional 154,726 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of AU stock opened at $95.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.73. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1-year low of $62.55 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.55.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by ($0.05). AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 32.19% and a return on equity of 38.77%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a $0.72 dividend. This is a drop from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.70%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE: AU) is a global gold mining company engaged in the exploration, development, and production of gold. Its activities include operating mines, processing ore into doré and bullion, and developing mineral resources and reserves. The company also conducts exploration and evaluation activities in areas with potential for additional gold discoveries.

The company has mining operations and projects across several regions, including Africa, Australia, the Americas, and other international markets.