Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Has $45.64 Million Stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. reduced its position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 648,943 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 26,635 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $45,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 14.2% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,675,740 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $76,376,000 after buying an additional 207,923 shares during the last quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter worth about $887,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,408,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 259,363 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $18,241,000 after acquiring an additional 18,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,728,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AU. Weiss Ratings lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Zacks Research lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:AU opened at $104.50 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $31.58 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $105.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market cap of $52.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.55.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%. On average, equities analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is currently 70.13%.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti is a global gold mining company engaged in the exploration, development, production, processing and sale of gold. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company’s core activities span the full mining value chain from greenfield exploration and mine development through to ore processing and rehabilitation. Gold is the primary commodity produced, with individual operations sometimes yielding other by‑products depending on local geology and processing methods.

The company was formed in 2004 through the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields, creating a diversified international gold producer.