Leavell Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 46.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,146 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 997 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GS. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $649.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $375.20 and a one year high of $663.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $601.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $549.42. 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 (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GS. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.