First Merchants Corp Buys 56 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

First Merchants Corp increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 659 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in 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 during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $661.56 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $603.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $550.81. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $379.14 and a 52 week high of $663.87. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $205.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released 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 net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted 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 research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company 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.