Balentine LLC Lowers Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Balentine LLC decreased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 74.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,202 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,538 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,693,331 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,842,192,000 after acquiring an additional 412,383 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,518,035 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,128,693,000 after acquiring an additional 152,474 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,195,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,004,153,000 after acquiring an additional 27,524 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,339,851 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,080,676,000 after acquiring an additional 104,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,120,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $504.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Edward Jones started coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $424.00 to $433.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $440.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $468.78 on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.36 and a 12 month high of $471.48. The stock has a market cap of $151.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $420.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $388.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.54 by $3.04. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The firm had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.57 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 Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total transaction of $2,161,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total transaction of $4,550,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total transaction of $2,161,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,330 shares of company stock worth $11,713,578 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.