The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $591.06.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,086,042.41. This represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,657 shares of company stock worth $21,973,272 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the third quarter worth about $37,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.1 %

GS opened at $638.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $200.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $375.20 and a 12 month high of $649.00. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $593.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.70.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 46.81 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.59%.

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.