California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 534,972 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 51,234 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $306,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GS shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer cut The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $590.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kevin R. Johnson acquired 2,400 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $619.02 per share, with a total value of $1,485,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 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 $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 in the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $543.04 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $387.12 and a 1 year high of $672.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $608.15 and a 200 day moving average of $571.66. The company has a market cap of $169.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.