The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading 2.1% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’s share price shot up 2.1% during trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $485.00 to $585.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group traded as high as $594.77 and last traded at $594.20. 474,126 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 2,213,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $581.93.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. The trade was a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119 in the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 407.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 421 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $377,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $101,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 6,461 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,699,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $4,129,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $187.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $527.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $492.68. 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 (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

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.