Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 860,537 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,482 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.17% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $83,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AU. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 1st quarter valued at about $321,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 30.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,023 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 106.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 88.4% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 136,543 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,200,000 after acquiring an additional 64,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the second quarter worth approximately $1,740,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Freedom Capital raised AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Roth Capital lowered their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $121.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.2%

AngloGold Ashanti stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.04. The stock had a trading volume of 2,180,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,693,510. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $45.36 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The firm has a market cap of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.79 and a 200 day moving average of $97.22.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. On average, analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

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.