Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Grows Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 534 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Country Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $638.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $589.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $533.75. The stock has a market cap of $200.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $374.24 and a 1-year high of $645.54.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JMP Securities increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,017 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,538 over the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.