The Goldman Sachs Group’s (GS) Neutral Rating Reiterated at UBS Group

UBS Group reissued their neutral rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. UBS Group currently has a $610.00 target price on the investment management company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on GS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.31.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $579.48 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $181.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $372.07 and a 12 month high of $612.73. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $581.68 and its 200-day moving average is $523.88.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. The trade was 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 have sold 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,798 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Westwind Capital bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $126,000. Norway Savings Bank boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 2,721 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.