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

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $440.57.

GS has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 report on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. HSBC lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total transaction of $2,161,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,475,456.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,981,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,299,679.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.25, for a total value of $2,161,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,425 shares in the company, valued at $269,475,456.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GS. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,012,564 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,319,470,000 after purchasing an additional 338,181 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,693,331 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,842,192,000 after purchasing an additional 412,383 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,518,035 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,128,693,000 after purchasing an additional 152,474 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,195,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,004,153,000 after purchasing an additional 27,524 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,953,461 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,910,897,000 after purchasing an additional 274,989 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $457.36 on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1 year low of $289.36 and a 1 year high of $471.48. The company has a market cap of $147.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $446.99 and its 200 day moving average is $409.11.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.54 by $3.04. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.79 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 36.63 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 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.