Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Invests $8.49 Million in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension bought a new stake of 99,500 AngloGold Ashanti shares in Q4, valued at about $8.485 million.
• Several large institutions materially changed positions—Ninety One SA added a new ~$1.38 billion stake, State Street boosted holdings by 1,175.7% to ~4.97M shares, and VanEck and Capital World Investors also increased exposure; institutional investors now own about 36.09% of the stock.
• AngloGold posted Q EPS of $1.90 (in line) and revenue of $3.07B (beat) but cut its quarterly dividend to $0.173 (annualized $0.69), implying a 133.3% payout ratio and a low yield of 0.8%, which may raise sustainability concerns.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 99,500 shares of the mining company's stock, valued at approximately $8,485,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company's stock worth $226,354,000 after acquiring an additional 4,577,807 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company's stock worth $1,395,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804,620 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,544,918 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $178,984,000 after buying an additional 1,417,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $87,236,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 0.2%

AU stock opened at $90.90 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $38.61 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $102.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.30.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. AngloGold Ashanti's dividend payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.20.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti is a global gold mining company engaged in the exploration, development, production, processing and sale of gold. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company’s core activities span the full mining value chain from greenfield exploration and mine development through to ore processing and rehabilitation. Gold is the primary commodity produced, with individual operations sometimes yielding other by‑products depending on local geology and processing methods.

The company was formed in 2004 through the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields, creating a diversified international gold producer.

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