AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) Receives $112.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $112.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank dropped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $96.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $97.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.70. AngloGold Ashanti has a one year low of $42.62 and a one year high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during 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%. Equities analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 9.26 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is 101.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AU. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,246 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,572 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,919 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.