D.B. Root & Company LLC Increases Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

D.B. Root & Company LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 453 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Mechanics Financial Corp lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 294 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% in the second quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 2,485 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Western Financial Corp CA lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 3,597 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.4% during the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 102 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $790.32 on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.38 and a 12-month high of $825.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $239.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $755.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $656.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 12.37%.The company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.26%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,594 shares in the company, valued at $13,469,493.60. This trade represents a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock worth $28,111,828 over the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $706.00 to $854.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $717.00.

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.