Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Buys New Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Key Points

• Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased 1,172 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, valued at approximately $640,000, in the first quarter of the year.
• Insider activities included CFO Denis P. Coleman and CEO David M. Solomon selling 7,463 and 6,608 shares, respectively, indicating a decrease in their holdings of the company's stock.
• The Goldman Sachs Group announced a quarterly dividend increase from $3.00 to $4.00 per share, representing a boost to an annualized dividend of $16.00 with a yield of 2.2%.

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,172 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $640,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 170.0% in the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 54 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 326.7% in the first quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total value of $4,706,944.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 126,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,876,426.56. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total value of $5,406,197.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,469,493.60. This represents a 28.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,079 shares of company stock worth $14,423,221 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $660.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:GS traded up $2.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $747.64. 1,371,029 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,568,873. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.38 and a 52 week high of $748.91. 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 company has a market cap of $226.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $689.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $616.41.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.