Argent Trust Co Purchases 140 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Argent Trust Co lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,658 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $6,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter worth $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at $27,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $513.00 to $561.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $559.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $490.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $496.44.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS opened at $485.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $289.36 and a one year high of $517.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.86%.

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.