The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Purchased by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,988 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $220,000. FDx Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $226,000. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.5% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 1,568 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.8% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.8% during the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 9,879 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS traded down $4.56 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $591.42. 538,091 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,209,166. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.35. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $319.66 and a twelve month high of $598.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $504.77 and a 200 day moving average of $480.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.47 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.14 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 35.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of 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. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $527.63.

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.