First Merchants Corp Raises Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

First Merchants Corp lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 659 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 77,025 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,136,000 after purchasing an additional 2,579 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 339,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $167,866,000 after buying an additional 13,730 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 148.4% in the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 2,064 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 2,585 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,720 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,298,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.9 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $661.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $205.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $379.14 and a twelve month high of $663.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $603.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $550.81. 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 (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.48 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS 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. Investors 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 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares in the company, valued at $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on GS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.06.

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.