Probity Advisors Inc. Buys 42 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Probity Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,544 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,800.0% in the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 38 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 46.9% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 72 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% in the second quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 54 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GS. Citigroup upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $850.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $771.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,469,493.60. This represents a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock worth $28,111,828. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $763.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $231.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.42. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.38 and a 1 year high of $825.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $766.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $673.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.27 by $1.98. The business had revenue of $11.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.68 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

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.