Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Raises Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,996 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $14,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GS. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $801,000. Keel Point LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 902 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 609 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $466,000. Finally, Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $573,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $554.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $173.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $541.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $574.50. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $428.17 and a one year 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 earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.57 by $1.55. The business had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. During the same period last year, the company posted $11.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 27.85%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director John B. Hess acquired 3,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.68 per share, with a total value of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,904 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,598.72. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on GS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $558.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $593.40.

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.