AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Price Target Increased to $37.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $32.00 to $37.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the mining company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AU. Scotiabank reissued a sector underperform rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (up previously from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research note on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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, StockNews.com upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $33.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of AU stock opened at $27.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.72 and a 200-day moving average of $26.15. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12-month low of $15.60 and a 12-month high of $32.57.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 earned $0.17 EPS. On average, analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,747,289 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $615,990,000 after buying an additional 1,948,322 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,743,697 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $312,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215,741 shares during the period. Barings LLC increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 395.0% in the second quarter. Barings LLC now owns 1,101,183 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,818,000 after purchasing an additional 878,717 shares in the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 2,201,551 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $48,874,000 after buying an additional 431,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,032,491 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $37,987,000 after buying an additional 379,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

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.