Americana Partners LLC Grows Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Americana Partners LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 439.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,695 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,639 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during 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 buying an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings 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 worth $205,403,000 after buying an additional 251,972 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 544,178 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $269,428,000 after acquiring an additional 171,071 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $661.56 on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $379.14 and a fifty-two week high of $663.87. 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 company has a market capitalization of $205.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $605.16 and a 200 day moving average of $552.61.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s 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 fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.06.

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.