Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 232,348 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 46.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 271,709 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 232,348 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.09% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $155,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,853 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,109,081,000 after purchasing an additional 22,794 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $845,466,000 after purchasing an additional 18,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $898,428,000 after purchasing an additional 62,246 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total value of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 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 stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GS. Barclays increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer cut The Goldman Sachs Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $593.27.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:GS traded up $6.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $586.16. 1,874,499 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,241,621. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $611.53 and a 200 day moving average of $570.61. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $387.12 and a 12 month high of $672.19.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. On average, 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. 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 2.05%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.