Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 63 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lessened its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 596 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 486 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 660 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $625.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $611.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $557.71. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $381.42 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.