Ascent Group LLC Trims Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Ascent Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,256 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 705 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GS. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,566,005,000 after buying an additional 29,053,586 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $1,766,238,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $897,185,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 102.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth $408,780,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GS. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $750.00 to $843.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $717.00.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total value of $4,310,079.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,176,283.79. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS stock opened at $790.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $825.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $755.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $655.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The business had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.