Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 127 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,160 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 5,825 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,884,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 46.8% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 70.1% during the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 920 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,107 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.2% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 467 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of 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. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 0.9 %

GS opened at $650.24 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $600.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $547.26. 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 has a market cap of $201.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $375.20 and a twelve month high of $663.87.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued 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 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 period last year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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 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 dividend yield of 1.85%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio 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.