Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 49,033 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 20.0%, selling 49,033 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with approximately 196,248 shares remaining.
• The Goldman Sachs Group recently reported earnings of $10.91 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates by $1.09 and achieving a revenue growth of 14.5% year-over-year.
• Goldman Sachs announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $4.00 per share, effective September 29, representing an annualized dividend of $16.00.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 20.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 196,248 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 49,033 shares during the quarter. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises approximately 0.8% of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $107,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,053,614,000 after purchasing an additional 687,711 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,885,454,000 after purchasing an additional 428,502 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth $1,766,238,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,010,583 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,723,920,000 after purchasing an additional 229,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reissued 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI set a $715.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $760.00 to $720.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and set a $627.00 target price (up from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $660.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total value of $4,310,079.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 65,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,176,283.79. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,469,493.60. The trade was a 28.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,079 shares of company stock worth $14,423,221 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS traded down $4.41 on Thursday, hitting $720.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,399,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,039,580. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.38 and a 1-year high of $737.88. The stock has a market cap of $218.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $679.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $613.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.62 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $4.00 dividend. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio 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.