Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 609 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,166 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $6,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,584,202 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,761,576,000 after acquiring an additional 161,500 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,172,423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,467 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,053,614,000 after purchasing an additional 687,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,885,454,000 after purchasing an additional 428,502 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $560.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup decreased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Oppenheimer lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities decreased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $593.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director John B. Hess acquired 3,904 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $511.68 per share, with a total value of $1,997,598.72. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,904 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,997,598.72. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.0%

GS traded up $6.25 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $605.46. 2,085,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,369,314. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $437.37 and a one year high of $672.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $553.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $582.47.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $12.57 by $1.55. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $11.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group's 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.