Goldman Sachs blew through expectations for equities-trading revenue, posting an all-time Wall Street record of $4.31 billion in the final three months of last year.
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That was higher than the previous record for any bank, set by Goldman in the second quarter of 2025. It also came in nearly $700 million higher than what analysts had expected for the quarter, according to the average estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
Goldman has fine-tuned its trading machine and expanded its investment-banking share under Chief Executive David Solomon, who has reasserted control and refocused the firm after a precarious period triggered by a failed foray into consumer banking. It’s also pushing hard to grow its wealth and buyout business, which it’s touted as a reliable income generator that helps balance the firm’s more volatile core businesses.
Goldman and Morgan Stanley are the last of the biggest U.S. banks to report fourth-quarter results. Morgan Stanley said Thursday that its debt-underwriting operation increased revenue 93% in the fourth quarter, by far the biggest jump on Wall Street and capping a record year for that business.
Goldman raised its dividend to $4.50 per share, it said in a statement Thursday.
The firm also increased targets for its asset and wealth management business, which posted a quarterly record for fees. It said it would aim for a 30% pretax margin in the medium term for the unit, up from mid-twenties, and returns in the high-teens, up from the mid-teens.
The bank’s asset and wealth management arm, led by Marc Nachmann, is growing through a flurry of acquisitions. Those include buying exchange-traded fund issuer Innovator Capital and venture capital firm Industry Ventures.
Apple card
Net revenue for the bank in 2025 was $58.3 billion, its second-best year on record. Without a multibillion-dollar impact from the sale of its Apple Card portfolio to J.P. Morgan Chase, it would have been a record.
Compensation expense was 13% higher in 2025 after a bigger-than-expected rise in the fourth quarter, though the annual jump was less than the firm’s 14% increase in annual revenue net of loan-loss provisions.
The bank’s shares fell 2.3% in early New York trading.
Investment-banking fees for the bank, which topped Bloomberg’s merger-advisory rankings in 2025, were $2.58 billion for the final three months of last year. That’s a fourth-quarter record for the firm and beat the consensus estimate.
