Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Trims Position in AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd decreased its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 26.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 60,916 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 22,422 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $5,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AU. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter worth about $1,380,472,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 406.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,288,253 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $539,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047,686 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter valued at about $426,477,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 1,175.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,967,173 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $226,354,000 after buying an additional 4,577,807 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5,109.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,082,326 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $179,286,000 after buying an additional 2,042,357 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

NYSE:AU opened at $84.55 on Friday. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 52 week low of $44.67 and a 52 week high of $129.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.65.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The mining company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 36.41% and a net margin of 31.11%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. AngloGold Ashanti’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AU. Weiss Ratings cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Freedom Capital upgraded AngloGold Ashanti to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.80.

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.