Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Boosts Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,495 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 243 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 449 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GS shares. HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their target price 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, Citigroup lifted 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.06.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares in the company, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total transaction of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. The trade was a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,017 shares of company stock valued at $19,655,538. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GS stock opened at $632.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $198.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. 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 fifty-two week low of $374.24 and a fifty-two week high of $645.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $591.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $536.52.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.