AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Short Interest Update

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,360,000 shares, a growth of 24.9% from the August 31st total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.1% during the second quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 14,100 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 64,843 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,279 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AU. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 5.0 %

AU opened at $27.67 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.80. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $32.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

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.