Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 24,385 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 26.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,231 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 24,385 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $31,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GS. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 270 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Sarl raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 11,540 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,452,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 19,081 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,361,000 after acquiring an additional 3,023 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 185.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 49,114 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $18,947,000 after acquiring an additional 31,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GS. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $464.00 to $472.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $548.00 to $577.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $497.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $492.11 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.36 and a 1 year high of $517.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $492.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $460.69. The company has a market capitalization of $158.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 9.36%. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.60 billion. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.43 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 46.86%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total value of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.54% 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.