Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,946 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,948,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.6 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $584.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $553.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $505.37. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $349.05 and a 1-year high of $612.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.47 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.