KBC Group NV Raises Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

KBC Group NV raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 74.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 211,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,491 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.07% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $149,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $20,566,005,000 after acquiring an additional 29,053,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,379,900 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,392,124,000 after purchasing an additional 157,473 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,804 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,820,677,000 after purchasing an additional 40,125 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in 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. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.6% in the first 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $850.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $843.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $854.00 to $828.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $779.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 106,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.6%

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $810.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $780.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $706.15. The stock has a market cap of $243.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The company had revenue of $15.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.50%.

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.