Morgan Stanley Boosts The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Price Target to $782.00

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $736.00 to $782.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the investment management company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 24.75% from the company’s current price.

GS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of GS stock opened at $626.84 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1-year low of $372.07 and a 1-year high of $627.00. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $586.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $528.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,940 shares of company stock worth $12,656,179. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GS. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,529,000. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $122,453,000 after acquiring an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.