Brokerages Set The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Price Target at $559.75

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $559.75.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.0 %

GS stock opened at $585.41 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $559.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $507.43. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $365.00 and a fifty-two week high of $612.73. 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 has a market cap of $183.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.47 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. 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 Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,940 shares of company stock worth $13,717,979 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.