Welch Group LLC Grows Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,722 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $7,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Vicus Capital acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at $206,000. LVW Advisors LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,754 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,403,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Seaport Res Ptn lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $524.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS traded up $3.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $516.36. The stock had a trading volume of 325,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,196,733. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.29 and a fifty-two week high of $540.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The company has a market cap of $163.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $500.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $473.75.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

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.