The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,594 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $8,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in 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 valued at $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth about $703,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $122,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’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 sale, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on GS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.3 %

GS opened at $634.48 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $597.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $543.79. 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 stock has a market cap of $196.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $375.20 and a 12 month high of $650.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.