AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $32.09, but opened at $31.22. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $31.10, with a volume of 357,511 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AU has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 1.5 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.92.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $467,795,000 after buying an additional 3,882,283 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $118,448,000 after acquiring an additional 3,764,165 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $277,968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,304 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,680,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $586,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,130 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania.