The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $645.91 and last traded at $645.35, with a volume of 257340 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $637.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $200.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38. 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 50-day moving average price is $594.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $539.40.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the business’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 value of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 40,865 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,862 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GS. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 213,605 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $122,453,000 after buying an additional 49,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,991,772,000 after buying an additional 161,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.