Busey Bank Boosts Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Busey Bank boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,332 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $20,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of GS stock traded up $8.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $645.77. The company had a trading volume of 1,806,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,695,038. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $594.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $539.40. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $375.20 and a 52-week high of $649.52. The company has a market capitalization of $202.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 Goldman Sachs Group's revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group 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 sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,865 shares of company stock worth $25,286,862. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GS. HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on 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, Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $591.06.

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.