The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading Up 0.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) were up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $587.80 and last traded at $584.39. Approximately 329,300 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,216,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $581.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities raised their target price 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $542.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $527.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $492.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm 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 firm posted $5.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,358,685.04. The trade was a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% in the third quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.