U S Global Investors Inc. Acquires 5,000 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,000 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $2,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AU. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the first quarter worth $63,186,000. Ruffer LLP bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the second quarter worth $52,267,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the first quarter worth $37,451,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 788.7% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 799,365 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $29,672,000 after buying an additional 709,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 3,127.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 561,331 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $20,911,000 after buying an additional 543,936 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AU shares. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $71.93 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a one year low of $22.45 and a one year high of $77.80. The company has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $62.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 2.22.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.69. This represents a dividend yield of 610.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.