Strs Ohio Acquires Shares of 519,376 AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 519,376 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,668,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 673,608 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $25,004,000 after buying an additional 73,671 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,337,673 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $86,774,000 after acquiring an additional 386,078 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 1st quarter valued at $270,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 103,365 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,837,000 after acquiring an additional 60,218 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 1st quarter valued at $312,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of AU stock opened at $68.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a twelve month low of $22.45 and a twelve month high of $79.94. The company has a market cap of $28.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.88.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The mining company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.06). AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 23.60%.The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Scotiabank upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $55.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.17.

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.