The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Short Interest Update

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, a drop of 18.4% from the February 28th total of 4,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $605.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $591.87.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $564.24 on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $387.12 and a fifty-two week high of $672.19. The company has a market cap of $176.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $603.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $573.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. Analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 in the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.5% during the first quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 421 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 623 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 25.1% in the first quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.1% during the first quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 6,998 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,823,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fire Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at $647,000. 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.