Traynor Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 685 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,822,469 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,393,539,000 after buying an additional 76,641 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,936,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,038,425,000 after buying an additional 1,696,350 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,764,509 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,396,236,000 after purchasing an additional 52,016 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.2% in the third 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on GS shares. Barclays increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $437.00 to $493.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Edward Jones began coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $357.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $432.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $411.10.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS traded up $2.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $417.69. The stock had a trading volume of 2,409,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,330,199. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.42. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $289.36 and a twelve month high of $419.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $388.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $357.54.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The investment management company reported $5.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $1.86. The firm had revenue of $11.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 33.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 48.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 4,300 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.15, for a total transaction of $1,634,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,357,659.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.15, for a total transaction of $1,634,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,357,659.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total transaction of $4,550,956.00. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,190,901.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,907 shares of company stock worth $15,080,021. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

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.