New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 415,312 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 7,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.13% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $237,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mcdonald Partners LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 3,713 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 50,489 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $28,911,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 59.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 14,927 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $8,547,000 after purchasing an additional 5,577 shares in the last quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,410,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock traded down $16.56 on Friday, hitting $625.70. 2,996,182 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,555,497. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $610.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $556.55. 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 52 week low of $381.42 and a 52 week high of $672.19. The company has a market cap of $195.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter 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 predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GS. Barclays raised their price objective on 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. HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment 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 has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.