AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Increases Dividend to $0.69 Per Share

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) declared a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.69 per share by the mining company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a 213.6% increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22.

AngloGold Ashanti has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AngloGold Ashanti to earn $4.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.6%.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock opened at $32.05 on Wednesday. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1 year low of $20.05 and a 1 year high of $33.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.27 and its 200 day moving average is $27.67. The stock has a market cap of $13.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank upped their price target on AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AngloGold Ashanti presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.00.

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.