The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Receives $591.06 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $591.06.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target 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.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,865 shares of company stock worth $25,286,862 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,400.8% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 419,095 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $239,982,000 after purchasing an additional 391,170 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 414,867 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $205,403,000 after acquiring an additional 251,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 260,317 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $128,886,000 after acquiring an additional 232,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $632.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $196.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $375.20 and a 52 week high of $650.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $596.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $541.71.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.1 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.59%.

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.