The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Receives “Sector Perform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $390.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $437.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $506.00 to $446.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $382.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $333.00 to $449.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $407.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 2.2 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $415.21 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $387.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $357.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $289.36 and a 12 month high of $416.76. The stock has a market cap of $134.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.42.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The investment management company reported $5.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $1.86. The business had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.80 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 32.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th will be paid a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.39, for a total transaction of $1,129,170.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,443.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.39, for a total value of $1,129,170.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,121 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,443.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.15, for a total transaction of $1,634,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,463 shares in the company, valued at $4,357,659.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,907 shares of company stock valued at $15,080,021. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,822,469 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $6,393,539,000 after acquiring an additional 76,641 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,012,564 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,319,470,000 after purchasing an additional 338,181 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,936,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,038,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,350 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,518,035 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,128,693,000 after buying an additional 152,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,195,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,004,153,000 after buying an additional 27,524 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

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.