The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $586.00.

Several research firms recently commented on GS. JMP Securities decreased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Daiwa America cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of 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 report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,589 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after acquiring an additional 5,541 shares during the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 15,506 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,879,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% in the fourth 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 lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% during 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 buying an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $356,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $503.77 on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52-week low of $395.18 and a 52-week high of $672.19. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $573.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $572.96. The company has a market capitalization of $157.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $15.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 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.