World Equity Group Inc. Sells 525 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

World Equity Group Inc. decreased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,310 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 525 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after buying an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,400.8% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 419,095 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $239,982,000 after buying an additional 391,170 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 414,867 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $205,403,000 after buying an additional 251,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 260,317 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $128,886,000 after buying an additional 232,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GS. Barclays raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $593.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543 over the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of GS stock opened at $625.70 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $381.42 and a 12-month high of $672.19. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $611.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $558.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.