New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 415,312 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 7,300 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.13% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $237,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 339,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $167,866,000 after acquiring an additional 13,730 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 196.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Waterway Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% during the third quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ledyard National Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $233,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $671.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $208.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $608.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $555.16. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $380.85 and a 52-week high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.48 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.06.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.