KBC Group NV Increases Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 74.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 211,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,491 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $149,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 17.1% in the fourth 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 period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 35.7% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 1,049 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $8,229,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 96.3% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 8,760 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,786,000 after acquiring an additional 4,298 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total value of $6,934,016.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. The trade was a 7.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $652.00 to $677.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $785.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $750.00 target price (up from $625.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $779.50.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $810.21 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $780.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $706.15. The firm has a market cap of $243.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $825.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.27 by $1.98. The firm had revenue of $15.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a $4.00 dividend. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.