AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Purchased by Summit Securities Group LLC

Summit Securities Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 634.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,485 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,785 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $1,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 284,017 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $13,777,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $1,139,000. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $6,523,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 606.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,054 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $918,000 after buying an additional 11,207 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $81.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $45.36 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.