Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) continues the trend of strong fourth quarter earnings results from the financial sector this morning. The firm reported earnings of $4.60 per share and revenue of $8.78 billion. That was more than enough to beat consensus. Analysts had been expecting the firm to report earnings of $4.18 per share on revenue of $7.62 billion.
For the full 2013 fiscal year, Goldman Sachs reported $34.21 billion in net revenues and $8.04 billion in net earnings. Diluted earnings per share were $15.46, compared to $14.13 for 2012. Return on average common shareholders’ equity was 11% for 2013.
Goldman Sachs highlights
The firm reported that during 2013 it continued to rank first in worldwide announced and completed mergers and acquisitions. It also ranked first in worldwide equity and equity-related offerings, as well as initial public offerings and common stock offerings.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS)’s Investment Banking division brought in $6 billion in net revenues, which is the second highest full-year performance in the firm’s history. Its Underwriting business made $4.03 billion in net revenues—a new record high. That includes record high net revenues in debt underwriting.
The firm reported record assets of $1.04 trillion under supervision at the end of December. It had $41 billion in long-term net inflows, which was the highest since 2007. Its Investment Management business brought in $5.46 billion in net revenues, which was also Goldman’s second highest annual performance.
Goldman Sachs reports that its book value per common share rose about 5% to $152.48, while tangible book value per share rose about 7% to $143.11, compared to those numbers at the end of 2012.
Goldman reports capital management
During all of 2013, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) bought back 39.3 million common shares at a price of $6.17 billion. The board declared a 55-cent per share dividend to be paid March 28 to common shareholders of record on Feb. 28. In addition, it declared devidends ranging from $234.38 to $343.75 per share for its many preferred stock classes.
Goldman Sachs also reported continued strong capital levels with a Tier 1 capital ratio of 16.7% and a Tier 1 common ratio of 14.6 at the end of December. In both cases, there were under Basel I and reflect “the revised market risk regulatory capital requirements” which went into effect at the start of 2013.
