Up Capital Management Inc. Buys New Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Up Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 49,582 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,228,000. AngloGold Ashanti comprises about 3.8% of Up Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,136,739 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $361,310,000 after acquiring an additional 284,017 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $13,777,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $1,139,000. Sprott Inc. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 770,670 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $54,201,000 after purchasing an additional 16,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth $6,523,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AU. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $90.75 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $95.95 and a 200-day moving average of $97.38. The company has a market capitalization of $45.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $43.44 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.04%.

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.