Mechanics Financial Corp Boosts Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 5.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 294 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,800.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 38 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 170.0% during the 1st quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $779.53 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $753.82 and its 200 day moving average is $653.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $825.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 12.37%.The company had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and issued a $627.00 target price (up from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $709.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total transaction of $4,706,944.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,876,426.56. This represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares in the company, valued at $86,463,679.48. This represents a 7.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. 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.