Empirical Finance LLC Sells 147 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,250 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $6,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GS. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 486 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 660 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was 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 worth $19,692,543 over the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.4 %

GS stock opened at $655.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $203.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, 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 fifty day moving average is $600.00 and its 200 day moving average is $546.46. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $375.20 and a one year high of $663.87.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.