15,960,934 Shares in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Bought by Ninety One SA Pty Ltd

Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,960,934 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,380,472,000. AngloGold Ashanti accounts for approximately 59.6% of Ninety One SA Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 129.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 490 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $35,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 33.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Friday, February 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.20.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $109.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.40. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52-week low of $38.61 and a 52-week high of $129.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.66.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. Analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.173 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

AngloGold Ashanti Profile

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.