Empower Advisory Group LLC Sells 655 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Empower Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 151,630 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 655 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned about 0.05% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $107,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 51,033 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $36,119,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the period. CFO4Life Group LLC increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 22.0% during the second quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 549 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.6% in the second quarter. Financial Life Planners now owns 474 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 76.1% during the second quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 810 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $790,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $785.00 to $855.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $685.00 to $775.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $762.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $854.00 to $828.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $786.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $790.56 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.38 and a fifty-two week high of $841.28. The company has a market cap of $237.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $785.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $709.46.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The firm had revenue of $15.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 $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 available through this hyperlink. 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.