Analysts Set The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) PT at $535.75

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $542.00.

GS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,991,772,000 after purchasing an additional 161,133 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after buying an additional 521,054 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,257,602,000 after buying an additional 77,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $957,684,000 after acquiring an additional 68,141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $602.75 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $334.87 and a 52 week high of $607.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $529.52 and its 200 day moving average is $493.78. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $189.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 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.