Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,380 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $7,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after buying an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,257,602,000 after purchasing an additional 77,700 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $957,684,000 after purchasing an additional 68,141 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 998,136 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $494,187,000 after purchasing an additional 4,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 34.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 843,646 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $381,598,000 after buying an additional 217,954 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,358,685.04. The trade was a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $602.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.69, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $334.87 and a twelve month high of $607.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $529.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $493.78.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

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.