Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 141,172 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,946,264 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 141,172 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $91,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 3,782 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $75,525,000 after acquiring an additional 962,141 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 297.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,120 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,900,000 after acquiring an additional 193,992 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $586,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,491,130 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter worth about $45,043,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 9.3 %

AU stock opened at $33.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $32.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.46. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a fifty-two week low of $21.65 and a fifty-two week high of $38.63.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AU shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.25.

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.