Guardian Investment Management Purchases New Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Guardian Investment Management acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,403 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GS. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the third 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 during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $626.84 on Monday. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $372.07 and a fifty-two week high of $627.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $587.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $530.29. The firm has a market cap of $196.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer dropped 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $589.19.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % 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, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.