Optimize Financial Inc Takes Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Optimize Financial Inc bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 695 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $398,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after acquiring an additional 5,541 shares during the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 15,506 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,879,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,743 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $356,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of 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. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $558.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $586.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $494.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $576.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $572.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $387.12 and a twelve month high of $672.19.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.48 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % 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. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

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.