Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 1,091,202 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,091,202 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $624,844,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.35% of The Goldman Sachs Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 339,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $167,866,000 after acquiring an additional 13,730 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,157 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,184,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,402 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 over the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.69.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $594.05 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $617.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $564.89. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $381.42 and a twelve month high of $672.19. The company has a market capitalization of $185.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

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.