ZEGA Investments LLC Makes New $1.78 Million Investment in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $GS

ZEGA Investments LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,517 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,781,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 524,296 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $286,418,000 after acquiring an additional 116,535 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,379,900 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,392,124,000 after purchasing an additional 157,473 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 161.8% in the 1st quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $9,596,000. Finally, Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 21,534 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $15,240,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.51, for a total value of $6,754,590.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 106,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,755,196.68. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $756.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $854.00 to $828.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $779.50.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS opened at $786.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $778.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $700.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $439.38 and a one year high of $825.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The investment management company reported $12.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.27 by $1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm had revenue of $15.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.50%.

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.