The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co cut its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,343 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GS. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $366,780,000 after purchasing an additional 743,402 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7,932.6% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $200,959,000 after acquiring an additional 438,754 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 878.8% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 397,082 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $179,608,000 after acquiring an additional 356,512 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $137,134,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,801,395 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $752,425,000 after purchasing an additional 274,509 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $577.00 to $614.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.69.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of GS stock opened at $512.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $500.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $472.10. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.36 and a twelve month high of $540.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $165.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.52 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.86%.

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.