AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Sees Strong Trading Volume

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 987,924 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the previous session’s volume of 1,897,428 shares.The stock last traded at $27.50 and had previously closed at $27.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AU has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (up previously from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.26.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.19. This represents a yield of 0.7%.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth $340,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,525 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the fourth quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 52.8% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,424,939 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $26,632,000 after purchasing an additional 492,358 shares during the period. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.