Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,580 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,608 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $9,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GS. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of 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. HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 research report on Thursday, January 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $594.27.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. The trade was a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $551.86 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $611.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $567.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $383.71 and a 1-year high of $672.19. 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.48 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

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.