Northern Trust Corp Acquires 428,502 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 428,502 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.06% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $1,885,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John B. Hess acquired 3,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.68 per share, with a total value of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,598.72. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GS. UBS Group upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities cut their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $760.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $558.00 price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $593.40.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $544.95 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $548.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $574.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $425.19 and a 12-month high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.57 by $1.55. The firm had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 27.85%.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.