Easterly Investment Partners LLC Cuts Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 35.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,586 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 12,045 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $9,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GS. Apexium Financial LP grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,672 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 62.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,632,000 after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,388,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 34.2% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 8,256 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,416,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $559.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $513.00 to $561.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $490.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.94.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS traded up $11.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $509.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,751,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,301,381. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $164.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $480.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $440.53. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.36 and a 12-month high of $517.26.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.86%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,981,022 shares in the company, valued at $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,981,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,299,679.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,013,500 shares of company stock valued at $32,181,365. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.