National Pension Service Purchases 12,736 Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

National Pension Service increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 572,183 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 12,736 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.18% of The Goldman Sachs Group worth $220,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,693,331 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,842,192,000 after purchasing an additional 412,383 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,518,035 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,128,693,000 after purchasing an additional 152,474 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,339,851 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,080,676,000 after purchasing an additional 104,424 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,792,239 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $903,485,000 after purchasing an additional 159,512 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,886,960 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $727,933,000 after purchasing an additional 38,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GS. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $479.00 to $517.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $333.00 to $449.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $424.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $440.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:GS traded up $8.61 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $455.56. 2,692,118 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,367,040. The company has a market cap of $147.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.40. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $289.36 and a one year high of $456.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $407.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $377.71.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $8.54 by $3.04. The company had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.65% and a net margin of 8.17%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.79 EPS. Equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.07 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is 42.95%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 623,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total transaction of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,602,947.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,330 shares of company stock worth $11,713,578 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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.