Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU)

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 675,546 call options on the company. This is an increase of 18,337% compared to the typical volume of 3,664 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AU shares. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 9.5%

AU opened at $94.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. AngloGold Ashanti has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $129.14. The company has a market cap of $47.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.34.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.90. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,001,047 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,979,174,000 after buying an additional 252,307 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 10.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,804,620 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,047,686 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,731,937 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $488,820,000 after acquiring an additional 26,421 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.