ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,982 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wallington Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 29,913 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,171,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Cape ANN Savings Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter worth approximately $248,000. Corundum Group Inc. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 61.3% in the second quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 71.5% in the second quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 24.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 53,845 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,109,000 after acquiring an additional 10,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $790.32 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $755.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $655.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.42. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The business had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $4.00 dividend. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GS shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $627.00 price objective (up previously from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $713.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total value of $6,934,016.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 115,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. The trade was a 7.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total transaction of $4,706,944.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares in the company, valued at $89,876,426.56. This represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

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.