Ninety One UK Ltd Buys 386,078 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)

Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU - Free Report) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,337,673 shares of the mining company's stock after purchasing an additional 386,078 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned about 0.56% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $86,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 12.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 673,608 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $25,004,000 after acquiring an additional 73,671 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 58.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 489,991 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $18,188,000 after acquiring an additional 181,000 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 13,908.8% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,526 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 9,458 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 185.3% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,177 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 2,713 shares during the period. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AU. HSBC reissued a "reduce" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. 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. 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. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.42.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of AU stock traded up $0.57 on Friday, reaching $47.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,266,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,879,255. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $22.45 and a one year high of $51.11. The business's 50-day moving average is $45.24 and its 200 day moving average is $36.96.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.14%. AngloGold Ashanti's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.