The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Cut to Market Perform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $660.00 target price on the investment management company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $690.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GS. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.69.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of GS opened at $622.11 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $381.42 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $616.74 and a 200 day moving average of $562.96. The firm has a market cap of $194.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm 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 company earned $5.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total transaction of $1,275,338.34. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,603,315,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth $944,334,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $624,844,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 14,007.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,059,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $606,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,204 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.