Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 3.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,200 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $11,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Mechanics Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.8% during the second quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 294 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% during the second quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 54 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 2,485 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Western Financial Corp CA grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 3,597 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,546,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.4% during the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 102 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $652.00 to $677.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $706.00 to $854.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $750.00 to $843.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $727.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of GS opened at $788.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $238.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 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's 50-day moving average price is $757.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $658.90. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The firm had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,176,283.79. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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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