The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock Price Up 0.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) rose 0.5% during trading on Tuesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $570.00 to $686.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group traded as high as $611.42 and last traded at $604.55. Approximately 332,760 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,207,544 shares. The stock had previously closed at $601.71.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $557.88.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,404,774. The trade was a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $444,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.0 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $545.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $501.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $188.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

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.