Optas LLC Lowers Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Optas LLC cut its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 15.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 488 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter valued at $1,766,238,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter valued at $897,185,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 102.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $8,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at $408,780,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were 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 $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 approximately $47,176,283.79. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 in the last ninety days. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $750.00 to $843.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $727.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $777.49 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.38 and a 12-month high of $825.25. The stock has a market cap of $235.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $758.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $659.72. 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 (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The firm had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.62 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, August 29th. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.26%.

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.