Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 13,671 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 52.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,559 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 13,671 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $19,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GS. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. UBS Group upped 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 research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $599.68 on Friday. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $342.00 and a 1 year high of $612.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $549.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $502.93. The company has a market cap of $188.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

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.