Prospect Financial Services LLC Takes $251,000 Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 460 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,172,423,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,467 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,603,315,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $944,334,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $624,844,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 14,007.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,059,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $606,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,204 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $660.00 to $594.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup decreased 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 research note on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $560.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $593.40.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $605.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $437.37 and a twelve month high of $672.19. The stock has a market cap of $185.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $554.39 and its 200 day moving average is $582.59.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current 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 $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 27.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John B. Hess bought 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, for a total transaction of $1,997,598.72. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,997,598.72. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.