Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management L L P NC sold 1,063 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, reducing their holdings by 1.8% to 58,116 shares, valued at approximately $41.1 million.
• Insiders, including CFO Denis P. Coleman, sold significant shares, with Coleman reducing his position by 28.64% after selling 7,463 shares for about $5.4 million.
• The Goldman Sachs Group has increased its quarterly dividend to $4.00 per share, up from $3.00, reflecting an annual yield of 2.0% and a dividend payout ratio of 35.26%.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,116 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $41,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $20,566,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,172,423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,467 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter worth about $1,766,238,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $897,185,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,764 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $8,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585,084 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GS. Zacks Research cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $665.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GS traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $805.20. 1,150,956 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,446,321. 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 company has a market cap of $243.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $738.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $638.81. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.38 and a twelve month high of $809.66.

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, 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 business had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $4.00 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $86,463,679.48. This represents a 7.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,594 shares in the company, valued at $13,469,493.60. This trade represents a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. 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.