Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,459 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $18,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 429 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 59 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the second quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 668 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.8% in the second quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 294 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 note on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $850.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $725.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $786.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $790.56 on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.38 and a 52 week high of $841.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23. The stock has a market cap of $237.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $785.07 and a 200-day moving average of $711.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.