The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Sold by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank lessened its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,478 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $15,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Swedbank AB grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,380 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,615,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4,682.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after buying an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 108.6% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 6,297 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,118,000 after buying an additional 3,279 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $594.27.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS stock opened at $557.62 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $174.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $386.00 and a 1 year high of $672.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $611.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted 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 return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. This trade represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. 0.54% of the stock is 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.