AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Position Lessened by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,491,498 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 564,942 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $127,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 129.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 490 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AU. Citigroup raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $108.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $54.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.92 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.01 and its 200-day moving average is $94.14. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $38.61 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.87.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. Equities research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.47%.

About AngloGold Ashanti

AngloGold Ashanti is a global gold mining company engaged in the exploration, development, production, processing and sale of gold. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company’s core activities span the full mining value chain from greenfield exploration and mine development through to ore processing and rehabilitation. Gold is the primary commodity produced, with individual operations sometimes yielding other by‑products depending on local geology and processing methods.

The company was formed in 2004 through the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields, creating a diversified international gold producer.