Aberdeen Group plc Lowers Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 312,670 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 10,328 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $221,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Zullo Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,695 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,662 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,176,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $211,000. Cascade Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $503,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $652.00 to $677.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $727.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.9%

GS stock opened at $765.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $231.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.38 and a 12 month high of $825.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $760.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $662.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total transaction of $4,706,944.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 126,176 shares in the company, valued at $89,876,426.56. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 65,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,176,283.79. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,323 shares of company stock worth $28,111,828 over the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.