South Dakota Investment Council Reduces Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

South Dakota Investment Council lessened its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,400 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $5,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position 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 worth $20,566,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth about $897,185,000. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $408,780,000. Amundi increased its position in 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 worth $967,193,000 after purchasing an additional 225,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,604,472 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $874,318,000 after purchasing an additional 216,556 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on GS shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $785.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $785.00 to $855.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $685.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $779.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $86,463,679.48. The trade was a 7.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $785.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $237.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.42. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.38 and a 12-month high of $825.25. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $774.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $694.79.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The business had revenue of $11.33 billion for 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 was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.40 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a $4.00 dividend. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.