The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Stock Position Raised by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 364,276 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $180,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GS. Citigroup raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $527.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS opened at $582.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $504.77 and a 200-day moving average of $480.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $319.66 and a 12-month high of $598.60.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.