E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Key Points

• E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 38.6%, acquiring an additional 1,321 shares for a total of 4,745 shares valued at $2,592,000.
• CEO David M. Solomon and CFO Denis P. Coleman sold significant quantities of company stock recently, decreasing their ownership by 4.98% and 28.64%, respectively.
• The Goldman Sachs Group announced a dividend increase from $3.00 to $4.00 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $16.00 and a yield of 2.2%.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 38.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,745 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GS. King Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 1,086 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,877 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,211,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 777 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 2,330 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,273,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 805 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $650.00 to $785.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $660.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,876,426.56. The trade was a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total value of $4,310,079.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 sold 20,079 shares of company stock valued at $14,423,221 in the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS traded down $16.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $730.50. 1,645,323 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,885,910. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $694.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $617.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $749.05.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. The company's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $4.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is 26.44%.

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.