Smith Moore & CO. Invests $375,000 in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Smith Moore & CO. purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 655 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after buying an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 15,506 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,879,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,743 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,309,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $356,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $469.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, 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 1 year low of $387.12 and a 1 year high of $672.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $597.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $573.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $589.19.

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.