Norris Perne & French LLP MI Buys Shares of 347 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 347 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Scott & Selber Inc. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 6,721 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 2,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 2,307 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 8,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,695,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, City Holding Co. boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 615 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total transaction of $6,754,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total value of $4,706,944.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,876,426.56. This represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $785.00 to $855.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $665.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $802.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $747.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $648.04. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.38 and a 1-year high of $825.25. The stock has a market cap of $243.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.41.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio 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.