Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 26,635 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lessened its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 648,943 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 26,635 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.15% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $45,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barometer Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 78.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,900 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 60.1% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,782,320 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $195,681,000 after buying an additional 1,044,691 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,849,121 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $129,841,000 after buying an additional 173,381 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 125.8% in the third 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 period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AU. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Five investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 1.7%

AU opened at $104.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.06. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $31.58 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The company has a market cap of $52.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 26.65% and a return on equity of 29.70%. Analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.13%.

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.