The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Bought by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,688 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 337 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $12,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 339,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $167,866,000 after purchasing an additional 13,730 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 14.9% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $1,011,000. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 34,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $17,192,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GS. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 over the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $642.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $610.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $556.55. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $381.26 and a 52-week high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. 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.