Lesa Sroufe & Co Makes New $4.66 Million Investment in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)

Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 125,448 shares of the mining company's stock, valued at approximately $4,657,000. AngloGold Ashanti makes up 4.6% of Lesa Sroufe & Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 210.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AU shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $42.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. HSBC reaffirmed a "reduce" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.08.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $48.05. 2,841,928 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,678,401. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.34. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $43.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.32. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $22.45 and a 1 year high of $51.11. The company has a market cap of $20.17 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 0.49.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

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

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.