Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 4,176 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 424,143 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 4,176 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $9,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 3,782 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $75,525,000 after purchasing an additional 962,141 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 297.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,120 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,900,000 after purchasing an additional 193,992 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,504.8% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 391,715 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $10,419,000 after buying an additional 367,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of AU stock opened at $35.54 on Thursday. 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 52 week low of $20.30 and a 52 week high of $36.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.81. The company has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 0.92.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. On average, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.