AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AUGet Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $37.00. The stock had previously closed at $26.76, but opened at $27.35. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $27.39, with a volume of 569,140 shares trading hands.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on AU. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (up previously from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.67.

View Our Latest Report on AU

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at $629,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter valued at about $222,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 87.0% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,907 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7,864 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 30.6% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 119,500 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,182,000 after purchasing an additional 28,000 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $126,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.83.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AUGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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