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

Core Viewpoint - Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.5% in Q2, indicating growing institutional interest in the company [1] Institutional Holdings - Winthrop Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings by 3.4%, now owning 429 shares valued at $303,000 after purchasing 14 additional shares [2] - Avion Wealth increased its position by 31.1%, owning 59 shares valued at $41,000 after buying 14 more shares [2] - KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its stake by 2.1%, now holding 668 shares worth $473,000 after acquiring 14 shares [2] - Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings by 0.7%, owning 2,241 shares valued at $1,586,000 after acquiring 15 shares [2] - Mechanics Financial Corp increased its stake by 5.8%, now owning 294 shares worth $208,000 after acquiring 16 shares [2] - 71.21% of The Goldman Sachs Group's stock is owned by hedge funds and institutional investors [2] Analyst Ratings Changes - Daiwa Capital Markets raised the price target from $756.00 to $810.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating [3] - Citigroup increased its price target from $700.00 to $765.00, also giving a "neutral" rating [3] - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised the target from $850.00 to $870.00, assigning a "market perform" rating [3] - Deutsche Bank increased its target from $725.00 to $790.00, maintaining a "hold" rating [3] - The consensus rating for The Goldman Sachs Group is "Hold" with an average target price of $786.00 [3] Stock Performance - The stock opened at $790.56, with a 52-week low of $439.38 and a high of $841.28 [4] - The market cap is $237.11 billion, with a P/E ratio of 16.06 and a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 [4] - The stock has a 50-day moving average of $785.07 and a 200-day moving average of $711.73 [4] Quarterly Earnings - The Goldman Sachs Group reported $12.25 EPS for the quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98 [5] - Revenue for the quarter was $15.18 billion, surpassing expectations of $13.68 billion, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 19.5% [5] - The net margin was 13.18% and return on equity was 14.79% [5] - Analysts expect an EPS of 47.12 for the current fiscal year [5] Dividend Announcement - A quarterly dividend of $4.00 will be paid on December 30th, representing an annualized dividend of $16.00 and a yield of 2.0% [6] - The payout ratio is currently 32.50% [6] Insider Transactions - COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares at an average price of $750.51, totaling approximately $6.75 million [8] - Following the sale, the COO owns 106,268 shares valued at about $79.76 million, representing a 7.81% decrease in position [8] - Insiders own 0.55% of the stock [8]