Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 1,225,022 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti PLC $AU

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,593,476 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 1,225,022 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $182,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 207,923 shares in the last quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth about $887,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter worth about $1,408,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 7.7% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 259,363 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $18,241,000 after buying an additional 18,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,728,000. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $106.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $53.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54 and a beta of 0.55. AngloGold Ashanti PLC has a 12 month low of $30.19 and a 12 month high of $129.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $104.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.02.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The mining company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.90. AngloGold Ashanti had a return on equity of 29.70% and a net margin of 26.65%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti PLC will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.173 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

AngloGold Ashanti 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.