Goldman Sachs Earnings And Dividend Are Up ( GS)

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.(NYSE:GS) Reports Above Estimated Earnings, Raises Dividend Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.(NYSE:GS) reported its first quarter earnings this morning, which surpassed analysts’ estimates by a wide margin. The investment bank boosted its quarterly dividend by about 30%.New York-based Goldman said that it earned $2.1 billion, or $3.92 a share in the latest quarter, higher than year ago profit of $2.74 billion. Analysts were targeting the bank to earn $3.55 a share.Net revenues during the quarter fell 16% year-over-year to $9.95 billion, but ahead of analysts’ estimates of $9.48 billion.Goldman raised its dividend 31 percent to 46 cents per share. Goldman's average daily value at risk fell by 16% from the year-ago period and 29 percent from the 2011 fourth quarter. The bank made provisions of $4.4 billion for compensation and benefits during the first quarter, down 16 percent from a year earlier. It also trimmed its workforce by 900 employees. Investment banking was the worst performing division as revenue slid 9.1% year-over-year to $1.15 billion, but up 35% sequentially. While financial advisory revenue rose 37% to $489 million, underwriting revenue slid 27% to $665 million. Meanwhile, Goldman disclosed a 14% year-over-year decline in institutional client services revenue to $5.71 billion. This drop-off was highlighted by a 20% slump in fixed income, currency and commodities revenue to $3.46 billion. Equities revenue slipped 3% to $2.25 billion as declining volume hit commissions and fees. Goldman continued to strengthen its balance sheet, boosting its Tier 1 capital ratio under Basel 1 to 14.7%, up from 13.8% at the end of 2011. Global excess liquidity stood at $171 billion at the end of the quarter, unchanged from the year before. Goldman Sachs' commodities trading risk was flat in the first quarter versus the fourth. Goldman's value-at-risk in commodities averaged $26 million per day, the same as in the fourth quarter and down sharply from $37 million in the first quarter of 2011, the closely watched U.S. investment bank said in quarterly results issued on Tuesday.​ Shares of GS are now up 0.09% to $117.84.