Avestar Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,956 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GS. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $649.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $201.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $602.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $550.12. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $375.77 and a 1-year high of $663.87.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS 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 issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.