Strs Ohio Has $39.18 Million Stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Strs Ohio reduced its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 402,435 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 62,806 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.08% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $39,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at $426,477,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577,807 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $179,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042,357 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Freedom Capital raised AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.80.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $84.55 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a twelve month low of $44.67 and a twelve month high of $129.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. Analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.04%.

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.