Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 7,644 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 364,276 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 7,644 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $180,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% during the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $527.63.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $582.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $183.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $504.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $480.57. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $319.66 and a twelve month high of $598.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.11.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 9.89%. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

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.