Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 237,695 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 43,328 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.08% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $136,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 791,420 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $459,126,000 after acquiring an additional 29,682 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 231,251 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $132,419,000 after purchasing an additional 78,635 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 1,305 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 285.0% in the fourth quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. now owns 10,057 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,782,000 after buying an additional 7,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $593.27.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $573.37 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $387.12 and a one year high of $672.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $610.88 and a 200 day moving average of $570.63. 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 company has a market capitalization of $178.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

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 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 net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

The Goldman Sachs Group 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.