Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Lowers Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC decreased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 113,882 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 5,357 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $65,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GS. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $633.14 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $588.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $533.05. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $374.24 and a 1 year high of $635.60. The company has a market cap of $198.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. 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.