The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $434.93.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $333.00 to $449.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $424.00 to $433.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total transaction of $4,550,956.00. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total transaction of $5,001,372.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,947.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total value of $4,550,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,120,119,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 27,076.5% in the third quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 653,322 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $211,396,000 after acquiring an additional 650,918 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,184,196 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $842,597,000 after purchasing an additional 464,954 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,693,331 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,842,192,000 after acquiring an additional 412,383 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE GS opened at $430.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $401.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $371.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1 year low of $289.36 and a 1 year high of $433.33.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.54 by $3.04. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 8.65%. The company had revenue of $14.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 35.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 42.95%.

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.