Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,051 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 10.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,350 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,051 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $4,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,257,602,000 after purchasing an additional 77,700 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $957,684,000 after buying an additional 68,141 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,007 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 34.8% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 843,646 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $381,598,000 after buying an additional 217,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% in the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $366,780,000 after acquiring an additional 743,402 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GS. Evercore ISI raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $535.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $593.51 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $518.10 and its 200 day moving average is $488.35. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $334.55 and a fifty-two week high of $607.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $186.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.