Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its stake in AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU - Free Report) by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,511,567 shares of the mining company's stock after selling 706,351 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.36% of AngloGold Ashanti worth $37,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Barings LLC increased its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 395.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barings LLC now owns 1,101,183 shares of the mining company's stock worth $27,818,000 after acquiring an additional 878,717 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL boosted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 14,100 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,279 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,428,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 119,454 shares of the mining company's stock worth $3,002,000 after buying an additional 9,050 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Scotiabank restated a "sector underperform" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (up from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.00.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AU stock traded up $0.53 on Tuesday, hitting $27.16. The stock had a trading volume of 3,009,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,947,632. The company's 50 day moving average price is $28.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.86. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $32.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.98. 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 (NYSE:AU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.19. AngloGold Ashanti's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

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.