Virtu Financial LLC Grows Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 233.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,699 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 3,991 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth about $186,000. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $369,000. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,156,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,507 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $594.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total value of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE GS opened at $565.00 on Friday. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $387.12 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $610.89 and a 200-day moving average of $568.09. The company has a market cap of $176.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.