DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Acquires New Shares in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 59,355 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 3,782 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $248,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $69,000. Polianta Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $1,103,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 177.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,124 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 8,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AU. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $44.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.88. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a fifty-two week low of $22.13 and a fifty-two week high of $46.90.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.