Evanson Asset Management LLC Takes Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Evanson Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 356 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after buying an additional 761 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,529,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $122,453,000 after acquiring an additional 49,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE GS opened at $626.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $587.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $530.73. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $372.07 and a 1 year high of $627.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for 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 Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

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.