FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Decreases Stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH decreased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,963 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 634 shares during the quarter. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises about 1.1% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $4,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GS. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,207 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,845,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,831 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 728 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,557 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,045,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 868 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $626.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $586.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $528.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 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 52 week low of $372.07 and a 52 week high of $627.00.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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.