The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Short Interest Down 18.4% in March

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, a decline of 18.4% from the February 28th total of 4,840,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $590.60.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $546.75 on Tuesday. 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 Goldman Sachs Group has a one year low of $387.12 and a one year high of $672.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $606.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $572.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $129,144,000 after buying an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,743 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth about $356,000. Finally, Park Edge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.