The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,179 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.06% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $108,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $703,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $122,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GS shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $634.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $196.97 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The company's 50-day moving average price is $596.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $542.74. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $375.20 and a fifty-two week high of $650.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS 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 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 earned $5.48 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group's revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. 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 1.89%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 owns 3,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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