Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 83.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,030 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 469 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,603,315,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $944,334,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $624,844,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 14,007.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,059,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $606,815,000 after buying an additional 1,052,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 214.1% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,294,084 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $741,018,000 after buying an additional 882,099 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $560.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $593.40.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director John B. Hess acquired 3,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,904 shares in the company, valued at $1,997,598.72. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $604.91 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $550.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $582.24. The stock has a market cap of $185.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.32. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $437.37 and a 1-year high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $11.58 earnings per share. On average, research 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 27.85%.

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.