LifeSteps Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Key Points

• LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired 345 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., amounting to approximately $244,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Insider trading activity included sales by EVP John F.W. Rogers and COO John E. Waldron, resulting in the sale of over 38,000 shares collectively, valued at around $28 million.
• The Goldman Sachs Group announced a quarterly dividend of $4.00 per share, an increase from the previous dividend of $3.00, translating to an annualized yield of 2.0%.

LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 345 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,474 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,989,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 888 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 4,046 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,210,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 991 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 437 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares in the company, valued at $47,176,283.79. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 106,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $788.56 on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.38 and a 52-week high of $825.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $757.63 and a 200-day moving average of $658.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.62 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of 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. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $652.00 to $677.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $727.31.

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.

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