Leonteq Securities AG Makes New Investment in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,045 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $1,380,472,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $226,354,000 after acquiring an additional 4,577,807 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,847,932 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,395,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,620 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 125.8% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,544,918 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $178,984,000 after buying an additional 1,417,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $87,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of AU stock opened at $91.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 0.60. 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 PLC has a 52-week low of $42.17 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $98.07 and its 200 day moving average is $95.76.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 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.