Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 4,288 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 359,988 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,288 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $206,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $703,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on GS shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.9 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $661.56 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $605.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $552.61. 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 stock has a market cap 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced 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 company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

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.