Great Diamond Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Great Diamond Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,358 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $791,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AU. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,023 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the second quarter worth about $30,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 13.1% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,963 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the second quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 196,368 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,850,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.83.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

AU opened at $83.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.09. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1 year low of $22.45 and a 1 year high of $89.19. The company has a market capitalization of $34.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 0.58.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 11th. The mining company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.02). AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 24.50% and a net margin of 26.25%.The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. Research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 80.18%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.