Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Sells 266 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. decreased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,299 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 266 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $12,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,853 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,109,081,000 after acquiring an additional 22,794 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,707,632 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $845,466,000 after acquiring an additional 18,541 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $898,428,000 after acquiring an additional 62,246 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on GS shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $594.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kevin R. Johnson purchased 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $619.02 per share, for a total transaction of $1,485,648.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This represents a ? increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $562.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $610.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $567.71. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $387.12 and a 52-week high of $672.19. 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 company has a market cap of $175.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.48 EPS. On average, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

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.