The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading Up 2.1% on Analyst Upgrade

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) traded up 2.1% on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $485.00 to $585.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group traded as high as $594.77 and last traded at $594.20. 474,126 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 2,213,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $581.93.

GS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $542.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 27,271 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,502,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $278,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $1,948,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 905 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 2.1 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $524.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $491.95. 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 stock has a market cap of $186.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

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.