Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,710 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GS. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Country Trust Bank purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,047,349.55. The trade was a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,657 shares of company stock valued at $21,973,272. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.7 %

GS stock opened at $642.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $593.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $538.70. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $375.20 and a fifty-two week high of $645.54. The firm has a market cap of $201.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.48 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.