IFP Advisors Inc Increases Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,335 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $2,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth $703,000. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth $356,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $122,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on GS shares. 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 research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on 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. Finally, HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE GS opened at $614.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $381.42 and a twelve month high of $672.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $613.18 and a 200 day moving average of $560.79.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during 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 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. Sell-side 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors 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 1.95%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 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.