HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 246,026 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 6,115 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $121,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $557.88.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $601.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $545.10 and its 200-day moving average is $501.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $340.54 and a 52 week high of $612.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total value of $1,061,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,940 shares of company stock worth $13,717,979 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.