California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 51,234 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 534,972 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 51,234 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.17% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $306,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 2.8 %

GS stock opened at $543.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $608.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $571.66. The company has a market cap of $169.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.12 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for 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 Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $590.60.

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.