Valmark Advisers Inc. Buys Shares of 327 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Key Points

• Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased 327 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., valued at approximately $231,000, as stated in their recent 13F filing with the SEC.
• Goldman Sachs' quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with reported earnings per share of $10.91, surpassing the consensus estimate of $9.82 and reporting revenue growth of 14.5% year-over-year.
• After a recently declared quarterly dividend of $4.00 per share, The Goldman Sachs Group's annualized dividend increased to $16.00, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.1%.

Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 327 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $20,566,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,766,238,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $897,185,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,764 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $8,065,000 after acquiring an additional 585,084 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $408,780,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total transaction of $6,934,016.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $86,463,679.48. This trade represents a 7.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $765.14 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $760.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $662.32. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.38 and a 52-week high of $825.25. 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 stock has a market cap of $231.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.42.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.62 EPS. 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 was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. 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 35.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $785.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group increased 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Five investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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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