Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 2,688 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 68.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,227 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,688 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth about $38,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. This trade represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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, January 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $668.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.47, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.39. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $609.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $555.95. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $380.85 and a 1 year high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.48 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

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.