Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Reduces Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. decreased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,593 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GS. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,120,119,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $366,780,000 after purchasing an additional 743,402 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,184,196 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $842,597,000 after acquiring an additional 464,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 26,378.2% in the 1st quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 407,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 406,224 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $5,050,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at $6,287,748. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,981,022 shares in the company, valued at $82,299,679.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,013,500 shares of company stock worth $32,181,365 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of GS stock traded down $2.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $502.00. 940,436 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,314,568. The company has a market capitalization of $161.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $289.36 and a 52 week high of $517.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $476.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $437.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 9.36%. Analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $559.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.94.

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.