Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 673,608 shares of the mining company's stock after purchasing an additional 73,671 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.16% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $25,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company's stock worth $467,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,882,283 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $118,448,000 after acquiring an additional 3,764,165 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company's stock worth $63,503,000 after buying an additional 2,680,261 shares during the period. Carrhae Capital LLP raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 170.0% during the 4th quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 3,459,193 shares of the mining company's stock worth $79,838,000 after buying an additional 2,177,783 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth about $24,741,000. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AU. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 1st. Roth Capital raised their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $42.00 to $43.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $45.08.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 1.1%

AngloGold Ashanti stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.58. The stock had a trading volume of 2,362,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,895,625. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.34. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a fifty-two week low of $22.45 and a fifty-two week high of $51.11. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $45.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 0.48.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.84 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 21.09%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 1.14%. AngloGold Ashanti's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.