Morningstar Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 68.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,227 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,688 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,991,772,000 after purchasing an additional 161,133 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,707,632 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $845,466,000 after buying an additional 18,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $898,428,000 after buying an additional 62,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total transaction of $1,275,338.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS opened at $668.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $609.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $555.95. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $380.85 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.39.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.48 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 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.