Highland Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,666 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 3,380 shares during the quarter. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises approximately 1.3% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $23,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after buying an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $122,453,000 after buying an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,991,772,000 after buying an additional 161,133 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.1 %

GS opened at $638.13 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $375.20 and a 12 month high of $649.00. 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 has a market cap of $200.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $593.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $538.70.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $965,115.15. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 35,657 shares of company stock worth $21,973,272. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.