The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,530,000 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 4,780,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $535.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $581.19 on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52-week low of $334.55 and a 52-week high of $607.15. The company has a market capitalization of $182.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. 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 50 day moving average of $522.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $491.32.

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 company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.47 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares in the company, valued at $34,358,685.04. The trade was a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 27,271 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,502,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $278,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,948,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 905 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.