JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Price Target to $625.00

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $605.00 to $625.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $593.27.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS opened at $559.47 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $609.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $570.55. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52-week low of $387.12 and a 52-week high of $672.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total transaction of $1,275,338.34. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total transaction of $4,758,905.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,584,202 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,761,576,000 after acquiring an additional 161,500 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,053,614,000 after buying an additional 687,711 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,885,454,000 after buying an additional 428,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,010,583 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,723,920,000 after buying an additional 229,673 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.