Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $180.36 Million Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 364,276 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $180,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after buying an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,991,772,000 after acquiring an additional 161,133 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after acquiring an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,257,602,000 after purchasing an additional 77,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $957,684,000 after purchasing an additional 68,141 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GS stock opened at $553.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $173.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $372.07 and a 1 year high of $612.73. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $566.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $511.36.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.75.

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.