Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 157,343 Shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. cut its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) by 63.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,949 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 157,343 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in AngloGold Ashanti were worth $2,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 76,471.4% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 10,720 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 10,706 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 210.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 232,629 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $5,369,000 after buying an additional 22,654 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP boosted its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 1,653,726 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $38,168,000 after buying an additional 599,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $439,000. 36.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE AU opened at $34.20 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.75. AngloGold Ashanti plc has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $34.75. The company has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.92.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AngloGold Ashanti plc will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend

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

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.