Sprott Inc. Grows Position in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Sprott Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,168 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the quarter. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $2,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AU. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $277,968,000 after buying an additional 2,957,304 shares during 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 last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at $45,043,000. TT International Asset Management LTD raised its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 51.3% during the third quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 2,836,110 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $75,525,000 after purchasing an additional 962,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 159.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,251,492 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $33,327,000 after purchasing an additional 768,363 shares during the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AU. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of AU stock opened at $30.81 on Wednesday. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a fifty-two week low of $17.94 and a fifty-two week high of $33.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.71.

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. As a group, research 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 declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22.

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.