The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Receives $594.27 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $593.27.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. HSBC downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $4,047,349.55. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $647,000. Fulcrum Equity Management grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 450 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Prostatis Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at $12,647,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $586.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $611.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $570.61. The Goldman Sachs Group has a twelve month low of $387.12 and a twelve month high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS 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 given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.