Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 22,654 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 232,629 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,654 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $5,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 16,770 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 95.6% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 247,292 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,585,000 after acquiring an additional 120,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 297.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,120 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,900,000 after purchasing an additional 193,992 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter worth about $368,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $277,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $32.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.74. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $33.77. The company has a market capitalization of $13.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a yield of 2.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.