AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Short Interest Up 8.0% in December

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,550,000 shares, a growth of 8.0% from the December 15th total of 5,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth $69,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $126,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 378.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,782 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 3,782 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 72.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,991 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,520 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investec upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.75.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE AU opened at $27.28 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.24. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12-month low of $15.80 and a 12-month high of $32.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.