JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock Price

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $520.00 to $550.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

GS has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $570.00 to $686.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GS opened at $599.68 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $342.00 and a 1-year high of $612.73. The stock has a market cap of $188.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $549.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $502.93.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.47 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This represents a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,940 shares of company stock valued at $13,717,979 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.