Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,441 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,800.0% in the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 38 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 46.9% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 72 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $727.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:GS opened at $779.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $759.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $661.09. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.38 and a 52 week high of $825.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.42.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $4.00 per share. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 65,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,176,283.79. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.55% 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.