The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $559.75.

A number of brokerages have commented on GS. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $584.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1 year low of $349.05 and a 1 year high of $612.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $553.26 and a 200-day moving average of $505.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total value of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth about $5,529,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 100,119 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $45,286,000 after buying an additional 2,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,987 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.