The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eighteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $594.27.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GS. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer cut The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin R. Johnson acquired 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $619.02 per share, with a total value of $1,485,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,485,648. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,584,202 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,761,576,000 after acquiring an additional 161,500 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 112,696 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,053,614,000 after purchasing an additional 687,711 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,885,454,000 after purchasing an additional 428,502 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,010,583 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,723,920,000 after buying an additional 229,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $562.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $175.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $610.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $567.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $387.12 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

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.