AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $34.75 and last traded at $34.46, with a volume of 482149 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.99.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised their target price on AngloGold Ashanti from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.96 and a 200 day moving average of $27.72.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a dividend yield of 2.8%. AngloGold Ashanti’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,857,324 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $467,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,882,283 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,133,744 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $118,448,000 after purchasing an additional 3,764,165 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,448,445 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $277,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,304 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 3,767.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,751,410 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $63,503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,680,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,411,814 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $586,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,130 shares in the last quarter. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.