Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $210.87 Million Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 368,259 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 9,075 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.12% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $210,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,189,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth $34,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.8% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 1,824 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $903,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $573.37 on Thursday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $610.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $570.63. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $387.12 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The stock has a market cap of $178.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GS. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of 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. Barclays boosted 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $593.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.