AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has $22.00 price target on the mining company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $19.00.

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $24.50.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

NYSE AU opened at $17.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.02 and a 200-day moving average of $21.97. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1-year low of $11.94 and a 1-year high of $30.26.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The mining company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.029 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 24th.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,073,882 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $654,917,000 after buying an additional 3,486,910 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,002,317 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $162,724,000 after buying an additional 594,702 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,174,686 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $214,584,000 after buying an additional 226,080 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 5,347,449 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $103,847,000 after buying an additional 263,928 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,579,718 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $86,593,000 after buying an additional 213,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 22.36% of the company’s stock.

AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile

AngloGold Ashanti Limited operates as a gold mining company in Africa, the Americas, and Australia. The company explores for gold. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita project located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania. The company also owns 100% interest in the Iduapriem mine which covers 137 square kilometers located in the western region of Ghana; Obuasi project located in Ghana; AGA Mineração in Brazil; Serra Grande located in central Brazil in the state of Goiás; Greenfield Projects in the Beatty district in Nevada; and Sunrise Dam in Australia.