Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 759 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Key Points

• Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.2%, owning a total of 8,968 shares valued at $6,347,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the 2nd quarter.
• The Goldman Sachs Group announced a quarterly dividend increase to $4.00, reflecting a boost from its previous dividend of $3.00 and representing an annualized yield of 2.0%.
• In its latest earnings report, The Goldman Sachs Group posted $10.91 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $9.82, with a revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, up 14.5% year-over-year.

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,968 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $6,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 28.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 524,296 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $286,418,000 after acquiring an additional 116,535 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at about $321,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 161.8% in the first quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 41.5% in the first quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. now owns 49,800 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $27,205,000 after acquiring an additional 14,600 shares during the period. Finally, Terra Nova Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at about $1,643,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.1%

GS opened at $806.62 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $244.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $741.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $641.68. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.38 and a fifty-two week high of $825.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.62 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $4.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,469,493.60. This represents a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock worth $28,111,828 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $785.00 to $855.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and issued a $627.00 price target (up from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $665.00.

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.

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