Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Decreases Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 386,244 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 92,705 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $273,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GS. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% in 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 buying an additional 157,473 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,804 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,820,677,000 after acquiring an additional 40,125 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% in the first 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 worth $1,138,527,000 after purchasing an additional 120,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,891,260 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $967,193,000 after purchasing an additional 225,993 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $652.00 to $677.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $854.00 to $828.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $750.00 target price (up previously from $625.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $786.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.2%

GS stock opened at $785.42 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $786.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $715.26. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.38 and a 1-year high of $841.28. The company has a market capitalization of $235.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.27 by $1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm had revenue of $15.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued 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 is presently 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.