AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Stock Price Down 7.5% – Should You Sell?

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)’s share price dropped 7.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $89.21 and last traded at $89.59. Approximately 819,109 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 2,838,495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AU. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Four equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $97.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.95. The company has a market capitalization of $46.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.60.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 37.17% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $1.16 dividend. 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. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 68.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in 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 buying an additional 5,047,686 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at $426,477,000. State Street Corp raised 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 last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.