Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lowered its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 117,334 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $67,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 8,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 1,124 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Taika Capital LP purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth about $912,000. Finally, Essex Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 9,811 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,618,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $559.55 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $174.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $381.42 and a 52-week high of $672.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $616.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $566.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.