Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 65,909 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise reduced its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 70.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,540 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 65,909 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $2,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AU. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 129.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 490 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,023 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AU shares. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

AU opened at $91.82 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.76. The company has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $42.17 and a 1 year high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.20.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. Research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.47%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.