The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock Rating Lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $660.00 target price on the investment management company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $690.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.09% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on GS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, HSBC cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.69.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS opened at $622.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $194.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $616.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $562.46. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1 year low of $381.42 and a 1 year high of $672.19.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,047,349.55. The trade was a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,584,202 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,761,576,000 after purchasing an additional 161,500 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,524,669,000 after buying an additional 112,696 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,053,614,000 after buying an additional 687,711 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,885,454,000 after buying an additional 428,502 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.