Empirical Asset Management LLC Acquires 43,784 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 3,902.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,906 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,784 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $25,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,529,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $122,453,000 after acquiring an additional 49,710 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $612.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $585.87 and a 200-day moving average of $528.13. The company has a market cap of $192.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $372.07 and a one year high of $616.84.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. 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 company posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued 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 1.96%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 research report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $589.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.