Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 10,656 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 279,883 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 10,656 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.09% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $160,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,524,669,000 after buying an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,603,315,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,853 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,109,081,000 after purchasing an additional 22,794 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $898,428,000 after purchasing an additional 62,246 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $624,844,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Director Kevin R. Johnson purchased 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $619.02 per share, for a total transaction of $1,485,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 over the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GS. Oppenheimer cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $590.60.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $543.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $169.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $608.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $572.36. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.12 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19. 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 (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.