Banco Santander S.A. Grows Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,410 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,709 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $33,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Solstein Capital LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Solstein Capital LLC now owns 299 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 49.3% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $827,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 9,830 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $6,957,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 47,901 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $33,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total value of $6,934,016.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 115,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. This trade represents a 7.42% 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GS shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $750.00 price target (up previously from $625.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $843.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $779.50.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $784.09 on Monday. 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 $237.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $767.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $681.50.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.27 by $1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm had revenue of $11.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a $4.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.50%.

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.