The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $497.56.

A number of brokerages recently commented on GS. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $490.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $548.00 to $577.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $513.00 to $561.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total value of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,119,949.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at $6,287,748. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 106.3% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 66 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS stock opened at $486.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $492.37 and a 200 day moving average of $460.86. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $289.36 and a 52 week high of $517.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 9.36%. The company had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 35.43 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.86%.

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.