Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $258,000 Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 450 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,529,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $122,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $632.13 on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $374.24 and a 12 month high of $645.54. 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 company has a market capitalization of $198.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $591.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.52.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,017 shares of company stock worth $19,655,538 over the last ninety days. Company 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.