Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Sells 765 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 12.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,513 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 765 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,120,119,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $366,780,000 after purchasing an additional 743,402 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,184,196 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $842,597,000 after buying an additional 464,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 26,378.2% in the first quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 407,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 406,224 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at $6,287,748. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,287,748. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total transaction of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,013,500 shares of company stock valued at $32,181,365 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $464.00 to $472.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $490.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.44.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE GS opened at $488.57 on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $289.36 and a one year high of $517.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $157.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $489.83 and its 200-day moving average is $449.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.86%.

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.