New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 418,712 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,400 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.13% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $228,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 92,123 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $50,326,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Realta Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 1,497 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 3,508 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,917,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $838,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,209 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $4,484,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director John B. Hess bought 3,904 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,904 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,997,598.72. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and set a $627.00 price objective (up previously from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $614.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS traded down $5.01 on Friday, reaching $704.11. 1,681,679 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,388,916. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $216.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.35. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $437.37 and a 52 week high of $726.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $632.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $596.48.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $12.57 by $1.55. The firm had revenue of $15.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.86% and a return on equity of 13.76%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $11.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.85%.

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.