The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Stake Trimmed by Connors Investor Services Inc.

Connors Investor Services Inc. lowered its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 29.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,205 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 166,656 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,291,000 after acquiring an additional 20,018 shares during the period. HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth about $850,000. Apexium Financial LP boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,672 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 62.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,632,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth about $1,388,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GS. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $513.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.59.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS traded down $1.28 on Friday, hitting $484.93. The company had a trading volume of 2,032,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,530,821. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $463.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.25. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $289.36 and a 1-year high of $509.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $156.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total value of $25,360,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,981,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares in the company, valued at $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,018,500 shares of company stock valued at $34,342,615 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.54% 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.