Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Increases Stock Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio significantly increased its shares in AngloGold Ashanti PLC by 266.9% in the second quarter, owning approximately 379,450 shares worth $17.28 million.
• Analyst ratings for AngloGold Ashanti have varied, with JPMorgan Chase raising the price target to $63.00, while Zacks Research downgraded the rating from "hold" to "strong sell."
• AngloGold Ashanti recently declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.80 per share, increasing from $0.69, representing a remarkable 610.0% dividend yield.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU - Free Report) by 266.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 379,450 shares of the mining company's stock after buying an additional 276,037 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.09% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $17,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,002,449 shares of the mining company's stock worth $787,791,000 after purchasing an additional 145,125 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,041,932 shares of the mining company's stock worth $150,054,000 after purchasing an additional 95,668 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,337,673 shares of the mining company's stock worth $86,774,000 after purchasing an additional 386,078 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,006,411 shares of the mining company's stock worth $74,478,000 after purchasing an additional 8,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,963,318 shares of the mining company's stock worth $72,878,000 after purchasing an additional 398,684 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.60.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $65.83 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a fifty-two week low of $22.45 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The firm has a market cap of $27.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.37.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The mining company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.06). AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 23.60% and a return on equity of 22.54%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.29 billion. On average, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 610.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.69. AngloGold Ashanti's payout ratio is currently 85.11%.

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.

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