Epiq Partners LLC Sells 78 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Epiq Partners LLC decreased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 13.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 493 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Epiq Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 3,216 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 270 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $258,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 562 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total transaction of $4,706,944.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,876,426.56. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,469,493.60. This represents a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 in the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $650.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $660.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $787.29 on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $793.17. The stock has a market cap of $238.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $730.38 and a 200 day moving average of $632.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.26%.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in financing under securities to resale agreements.