China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New $896,000 Investment in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,564 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $896,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GS. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Country Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $591.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,865 shares of company stock worth $25,286,862 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GS traded up $2.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $634.48. 1,743,131 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,593,334. The firm has a market cap of $196.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $375.20 and a 1 year high of $650.00. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $596.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $542.74.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

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.