Blue Square Asset Management LLC Buys 166 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Blue Square Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,659 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the quarter. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises 1.9% of Blue Square Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Blue Square Asset Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Country Trust Bank acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This trade represents a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,017 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,538 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $636.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The company has a market capitalization of $199.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $591.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $535.67. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $374.24 and a twelve month high of $645.54.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 29.59%.

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.