AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 55.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,085 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,773 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $1,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AU. Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $155.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup cut their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $74.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a market cap of $37.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.65. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $45.36 and a 12 month high of $129.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. AngloGold Ashanti had a net margin of 31.11% and a return on equity of 36.41%. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 68.04%.

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.