Financial Advocates Investment Management Has $883,000 Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Financial Advocates Investment Management trimmed its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,541 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 18 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $883,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew 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 buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 608,425 shares in the company, valued at $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. This represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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 objective on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $655.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $203.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $599.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $545.29. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $375.20 and a 1 year high of $663.87. 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 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

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.