Private Trust Co. NA Grows Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,544 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Swedbank AB lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 339,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $167,866,000 after buying an additional 13,730 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 64.8% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,842 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares in the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth $920,000. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,076.1% during the third quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,986 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 7,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,228 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,569,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:GS opened at $607.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $615.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $561.52. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $381.42 and a 52 week high of $672.19. The company has a market capitalization of $189.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on GS. UBS Group boosted 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 boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.