Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $3.12 Million Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,445 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,533,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 122,982 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,422,000 after acquiring an additional 8,762 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $468,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,947 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,895 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 4.2 %

GS opened at $579.88 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $180.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $617.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.69. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $381.42 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 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 firm 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 earned $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GS shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Director Kevin R. Johnson bought 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $619.02 per share, with a total value of $1,485,648.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.