The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS Shares Sold by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. has reduced its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. by 48.2%, now holding only 3,777 shares valued at approximately $2,063,000.
• Several institutional investors recently made significant acquisitions in Goldman Sachs, indicating ongoing interest in the company despite fluctuations in investment positions.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $3.00 to $4.00 per share, reflecting a strong financial performance with a 14.5% year-over-year revenue increase.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 48.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,777 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 3,510 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,172,423,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,467 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth $1,766,238,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $944,334,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth $897,185,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 214.1% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,294,084 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $741,018,000 after acquiring an additional 882,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of GS stock traded up $25.8940 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $741.8440. 1,948,403 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,756,604. The business's fifty day moving average is $705.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $620.87. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.38 and a 12-month high of $749.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.38.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.62 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and issued a $627.00 price objective (up from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $650.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $660.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 126,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,876,426.56. This trade represents a 4.98% 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

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.