Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Purchases Shares of 435 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 435 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 106.3% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 66 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% during the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $496.57 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $289.36 and a 12-month high of $517.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $492.33 and a 200-day moving average of $463.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.60 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 9.36%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.43 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,287,748. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $6,287,748. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,119,949.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 research report on Monday, September 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $548.00 to $577.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.13.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.