AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $29.53, but opened at $30.45. AngloGold Ashanti shares last traded at $29.77, with a volume of 590,501 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AU. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 3.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.69.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 210.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

About AngloGold Ashanti

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.