Legal & General Group Plc Increases Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,700 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,257,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GS. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,012,564 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,319,470,000 after purchasing an additional 338,181 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,516,093 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,127,944,000 after acquiring an additional 150,532 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,953,461 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,910,897,000 after acquiring an additional 274,989 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at $1,903,374,000. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,293,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $884,837,000 after purchasing an additional 81,168 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.2 %

GS opened at $497.05 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $491.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $457.25. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $289.36 and a one year high of $517.26. The stock has a market cap of $156.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.60 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.43 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,287,748. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total transaction of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $490.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.44.

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.