The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Stake Boosted by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 108.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,344 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GS. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,627 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albert D Mason Inc. lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 662 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $465.74 on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.36 and a 1 year high of $471.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $450.78 and its 200-day moving average is $411.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.54 by $3.04. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The company had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.79 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $424.00 to $433.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $479.00 to $517.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $443.78.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,981,022 shares in the company, valued at $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total value of $25,360,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,981,022 shares in the company, valued at $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total transaction of $2,161,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 623,425 shares in the company, valued at $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.