Foster Group Inc. Buys New Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 442 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,991,772,000 after buying an additional 161,133 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,707,632 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $845,466,000 after buying an additional 18,541 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $898,428,000 after acquiring an additional 62,246 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GS shares. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.06.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,657 shares of company stock valued at $21,973,272 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $637.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $592.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $537.59. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $374.24 and a 12 month high of $645.54. The firm has a market cap of $200.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.