WestEnd Advisors LLC Purchases 74 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,261 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises approximately 1.1% of WestEnd Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $44,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GS. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter worth about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock traded up $4.59 on Wednesday, reaching $528.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 47,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,188,628. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $501.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $475.59. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $300.70 and a 1 year high of $540.51. 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 company has a market capitalization of $167.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total value of $1,061,800.00. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GS shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $577.00 to $614.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $524.69.

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.