Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Reduces Stock Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV trimmed its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 24.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,044 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 22,731 shares during the quarter. AngloGold Ashanti accounts for approximately 0.7% of Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $6,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after buying an additional 5,047,686 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at about $426,477,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after buying an additional 4,577,807 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $179,286,000 after buying an additional 2,042,357 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AU shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Scotiabank lowered their price target 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Freedom Capital upgraded AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $81.98 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 1-year low of $45.36 and a 1-year high of $129.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.25. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. Equities research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.04%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.