AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) Short Interest Down 6.0% in January

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,540,000 shares, a drop of 6.0% from the January 15th total of 4,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Institutional Trading of AngloGold Ashanti

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. 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. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. 36.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank raised AngloGold Ashanti from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com downgraded AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.75.

AngloGold Ashanti Stock Performance

NYSE AU opened at $31.10 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. AngloGold Ashanti has a twelve month low of $17.01 and a twelve month high of $33.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.62.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last posted 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). Equities analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

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.