Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 6,313 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

Key Points

• Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 153.9%, owning a total of 10,415 shares valued at approximately $5.69 million after purchasing an additional 6,313 shares.
• The Goldman Sachs Group declared a quarterly dividend of $4.00 per share, an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $3.00, with an annualized yield of 2.2%.
• Analysts have upgraded Goldman Sachs' stock from a "sell" to a "hold" rating, with a consensus price target of $660.00 following a strong earnings report.

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 153.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,415 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,313 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $5,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 170.0% in the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 54 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 326.7% in the first quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 directly owned 18,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,469,493.60. The trade was a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total value of $4,310,079.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,761 shares in the company, valued at $47,176,283.79. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS traded up $6.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $769.95. 1,996,070 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,578,995. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $726.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $629.25. The company has a market cap of $233.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.38 and a 1-year high of $774.47.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 12.37%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GS. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. HSBC reiterated a "reduce" rating and issued a $627.00 target price (up previously from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $650.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $660.00.

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.