The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Sold by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,676 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.69.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.5 %

GS opened at $618.04 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $381.42 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $614.54 and a 200-day moving average of $561.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion during 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 Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 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.