Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Purchases 88,436 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 24.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 443,232 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 88,436 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.14% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $200,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.3% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 3,155 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $201,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 14,562 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $6,586,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 11.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 137,590 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $62,228,000 after acquiring an additional 14,566 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,996 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,402,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total transaction of $1,770,965.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,287,748. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total value of $1,770,965.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GS. Oppenheimer raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $559.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $513.00 to $561.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $464.00 to $472.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.44.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE GS opened at $498.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $491.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.36 and a fifty-two week high of $517.26.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.10. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.5 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.86%.

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.