The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Stake Trimmed by Lipe & Dalton

Lipe & Dalton lowered its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. The Goldman Sachs Group accounts for 5.1% of Lipe & Dalton’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $9,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Callan Capital LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 958 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 18,710 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,714,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 822 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 831 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $851,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, 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 sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 2.6 %

NYSE:GS opened at $625.70 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $381.42 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $611.58 and a 200 day moving average of $557.71. The firm has a market cap of $195.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 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 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 research report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $593.56.

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.