Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,799 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $10,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,566,005,000 after buying an additional 29,053,586 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,804 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,820,677,000 after buying an additional 40,125 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at $1,766,238,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,084,108 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,138,527,000 after buying an additional 120,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,891,260 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $967,193,000 after buying an additional 225,993 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:GS opened at $777.49 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $758.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $659.72. The company has a market capitalization of $235.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.42. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.38 and a 1-year high of $825.25.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GS. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $785.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped 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 report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $727.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total transaction of $6,754,590.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares in the company, valued at $47,176,283.79. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.