The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Shares Down 0.4% Following Insider Selling

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) shares dropped 0.4% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $598.58 and last traded at $599.63. Approximately 298,224 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 2,204,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $602.08.

Specifically, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $557.88.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $187.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $549.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $502.93.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced 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 business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after buying an additional 761 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at about $5,529,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,993 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.