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

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) announced a semi-annual dividend on Thursday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.69 per share by the mining company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22.

AngloGold Ashanti has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect AngloGold Ashanti to earn $3.83 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 11.5%.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

Shares of AngloGold Ashanti stock traded up $0.97 on Thursday, hitting $32.02. 3,739,108 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,486,770. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.29 and its 200 day moving average is $27.62. AngloGold Ashanti has a 52-week low of $17.01 and a 52-week high of $33.77.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

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.