Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $415,000 Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Verus Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 586 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 726 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,474 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,063 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,229,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth about $441,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total transaction of $6,934,016.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. This trade represents a 7.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of GS opened at $838.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $782.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $707.08. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.38 and a 52 week high of $840.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm had revenue of $15.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a $4.00 dividend. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 32.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GS. Zacks Research downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $785.00 price target on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets boosted 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 note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $854.00 to $828.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $779.50.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.