The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS Shares Sold by BLB&B Advisors LLC

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 15.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 325 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,566,005,000 after buying an additional 29,053,586 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,804 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,820,677,000 after buying an additional 40,125 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,084,108 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,138,527,000 after buying an additional 120,272 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,891,260 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $967,193,000 after buying an additional 225,993 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $897,185,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $850.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $750.00 price objective (up previously from $625.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $779.50.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total transaction of $6,754,590.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $789.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $239.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.42. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.38 and a 52-week high of $825.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $773.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $690.22.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.27 by $1.98. The company had revenue of $11.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.40 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 32.50%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

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.