Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $1.95 Million in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

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

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,940 shares of company stock worth $13,717,979 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE GS opened at $584.86 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $553.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $505.37. 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 stock has a market cap of $183.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $349.05 and a 12 month high of $612.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $12.70 billion for 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 11.39%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $570.00 to $686.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.