AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Rating Increased to Buy at Investec

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) was upgraded by investment analysts at Investec from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

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

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AU opened at $30.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. AngloGold Ashanti has a 12 month low of $15.60 and a 12 month high of $32.57.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the first quarter valued at approximately $596,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,002,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,396,216 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $75,396,000 after purchasing an additional 181,081 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 748.1% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 45,142 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 39,819 shares during the period. Finally, Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.5% during the second quarter. Oaktree Fund Advisors LLC now owns 683,604 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $17,179,000 after purchasing an additional 64,993 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Company 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.