AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

AU has been the subject of several other research reports. Roth Capital cut their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $76.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.96. AngloGold Ashanti has a fifty-two week low of $45.36 and a fifty-two week high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released 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 firm 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 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,979,174,000 after buying an additional 252,307 shares during the period. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,386,503 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $620,874,000 after acquiring an additional 98,250 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,731,937 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $488,820,000 after acquiring an additional 26,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,121,189 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $436,735,000 after purchasing an additional 191,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.