AngloGold Ashanti plc (AU) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 14th

AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU) announced a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, 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 dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a 213.6% increase from AngloGold Ashanti’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22.

AngloGold Ashanti has a payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AngloGold Ashanti to earn $4.14 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 10.6%.

AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 4.6 %

AU opened at $32.05 on Wednesday. AngloGold Ashanti has a one year low of $20.05 and a one year high of $33.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 0.92.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Analysts predict that AngloGold Ashanti will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of 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. cut their price objective on 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 research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AngloGold Ashanti from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

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.