Trust Co. of Vermont Raises Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 31.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,261 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 166,656 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $64,291,000 after acquiring an additional 20,018 shares during the period. HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $850,000. Apexium Financial LP boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,672 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,035 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $989,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 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 through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Argus upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $465.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $440.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $445.65. The company had a trading volume of 196,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,273,902. The company has a market cap of $143.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.36 and a fifty-two week high of $471.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $439.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $403.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.54 by $3.04. The business had revenue of $14.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 8.17%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.57 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.95%.

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.