Ritholtz Wealth Management Makes New Investment in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,345 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 36.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 108.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 338.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,471 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 2,679 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,215 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 3rd quarter valued at about $126,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (up previously from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AngloGold Ashanti currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.67.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Up 5.4 %

NYSE AU opened at $29.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.19. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a 1-year low of $15.60 and a 1-year high of $32.57. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $28.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.29.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

AngloGold Ashanti 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.