Wallington Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Wallington Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,554 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. The Goldman Sachs Group makes up approximately 2.9% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $19,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 18,431 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,767 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 2.3 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $626.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $586.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $528.71. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $372.07 and a 12 month high of $627.00. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. HSBC cut 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. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.