Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 264 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,902 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $703,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $122,453,000 after purchasing an additional 49,710 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of GS opened at $655.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $203.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. 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 Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $375.20 and a 52 week high of $663.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $599.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $545.29.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on GS shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.