World Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 156,691 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4,313.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,324 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,691 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.05% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $79,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $599.68 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $342.00 and a one year high of $612.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $188.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $549.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $502.93.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly 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 Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.47 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.00%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. The trade was a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,940 shares of company stock worth $13,717,979. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.75.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.