Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Sells 249 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 25.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 748 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 249 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GS. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $37,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GS shares. Bank of America increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $589.19.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179 in the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $626.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $196.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $372.07 and a 52 week high of $627.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $587.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $530.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors 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 1.91%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

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.