USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 49,504 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

USS Investment Management Ltd cut its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 954,291 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 49,504 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.19% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $81,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 41,561 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 27,623 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,356,000 after purchasing an additional 6,479 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,767 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,187 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 29.9% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 30,604 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,614,000 after purchasing an additional 7,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fieldview Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $86.26 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a market cap of $43.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 0.60. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a fifty-two week low of $43.44 and a fifty-two week high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 9.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $1.16 dividend. 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 5.4%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 68.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AU shares. Zacks Research cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.00.

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.