Avanza Fonder AB Buys New Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 23,504 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,459,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $243,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 7,476 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,060 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS opened at $615.56 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $585.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $528.13. The company has a market capitalization of $193.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $372.07 and a 1-year high of $617.73. 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 (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.