Empowered Funds LLC Sells 5,608 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Empowered Funds LLC cut its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 27.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,465 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 5,608 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $10,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,392,124,000 after buying an additional 157,473 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 40,125 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 120,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,891,260 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $967,193,000 after acquiring an additional 225,993 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $850.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $843.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $786.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total value of $6,934,016.84. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 115,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. This represents a 7.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.2%

GS opened at $777.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $786.05 and a 200 day moving average of $714.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.38 and a 12 month high of $841.28. The firm has a market cap of $233.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The business had revenue of $15.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders 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 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s 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.