The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,200 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $11,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,617 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 102.6% in the 2nd quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,080 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $753,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 192.0% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after buying an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Finally, Prasad Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Prasad Wealth Partners LLC now owns 845 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,176,283.79. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,755,196.68. The trade was 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 90 days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:GS opened at $788.56 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $757.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $658.90. The company has a market capitalization of $238.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.38 and a 52-week high of $825.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The firm had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 12.37%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $750.00 to $843.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on 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, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $727.31.

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.