First Merchants Corp Has $497,000 Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

First Merchants Corp grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 37.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 909 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GS. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,172,423,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,467 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at $1,766,238,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,603,315,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at $944,334,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at $624,844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Director John B. Hess purchased 3,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.68 per share, with a total value of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,997,598.72. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $570.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $760.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Daiwa America lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $595.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $690.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $598.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $587.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $437.37 and a twelve month high of $694.20.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55. The business had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 11.86%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $11.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.85%.

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.