Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 511 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,540 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 511 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Trust Co. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 82.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 91 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 94 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, CNB Bank increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 55.7% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 165 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. HSBC raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Edward Jones assumed coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $437.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total value of $4,550,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total value of $4,550,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 623,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,330 shares of company stock worth $11,713,578. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS opened at $426.54 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $289.36 and a 1 year high of $433.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $138.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $402.81 and a 200-day moving average of $372.96.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.65% and a net margin of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $14.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.86 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.95%.

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.