Lazari Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Lazari Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,199 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 170.0% in the 1st quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 72 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Zacks Research cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Evercore ISI set a $715.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $665.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,176,283.79. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 over the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE GS opened at $802.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $243.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.38 and a 12 month high of $825.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $747.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $648.04. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

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.