AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,064 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,564 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $3,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AU. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $586,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,130 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $277,968,000 after buying an additional 2,957,304 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% in the third quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $75,525,000 after acquiring an additional 962,141 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth $45,043,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 159.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,251,492 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $33,327,000 after acquiring an additional 768,363 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:AU opened at $31.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.73. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a 1 year low of $17.94 and a 1 year high of $33.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.69.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.75%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.