Ninety One SA Pty Ltd Takes Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 15,960,934 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,380,472,000. AngloGold Ashanti makes up 59.6% of Ninety One SA Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position 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 valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $109.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $55.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.66. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $38.61 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.05 and its 200 day moving average is $91.40.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 26.65%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.173 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.20.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.