Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Sells 183 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,165 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $17,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 414,867 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $205,403,000 after buying an additional 251,972 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 260,317 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $128,886,000 after buying an additional 232,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 265.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 248,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $123,035,000 after buying an additional 180,500 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total transaction of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $655.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $203.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $375.20 and a 12-month high of $663.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $600.00 and a 200-day moving average of $546.46.

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 (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

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.