The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $558.38.

Several brokerages recently 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 company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $570.00 to $686.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.9 %

GS opened at $580.13 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $372.07 and a 52 week high of $612.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The company has a market capitalization of $182.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $578.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $520.79.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold 22,940 shares of company stock worth $13,717,979 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,991,772,000 after buying an additional 161,133 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,257,602,000 after buying an additional 77,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $957,684,000 after acquiring an additional 68,141 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.