The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 2nd

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 15th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 3.00 per share by the investment management company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

The Goldman Sachs Group has raised its dividend by an average of 28.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. The Goldman Sachs Group has a dividend payout ratio of 29.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect The Goldman Sachs Group to earn $41.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $12.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $529.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $496.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $467.83. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $289.36 and a fifty-two week high of $540.51. The company has a market capitalization of $170.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.47 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 35.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $577.00 to $614.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $524.69.

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.