Dodge & Cox Lowers Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Dodge & Cox trimmed its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 28.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,870,536 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,509,556 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,216,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GS. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS opened at $503.77 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $573.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $572.96. The stock has a market cap of $157.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $395.18 and a 12-month high of $672.19. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $11.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 sale, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GS. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley set a $558.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities cut 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $586.00.

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.