The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading Down 1%

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) dropped 1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $395.18 and last traded at $396.86. Approximately 3,459,728 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 61% from the average daily volume of 2,148,238 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Edward Jones assumed coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.93.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $396.03 and its 200-day moving average is $365.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.43.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.54 by $3.04. The business had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 8.65%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.79 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.15, for a total value of $1,634,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,463 shares in the company, valued at $4,357,659.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 4,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.15, for a total value of $1,634,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,463 shares in the company, valued at $4,357,659.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total transaction of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,947.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,907 shares of company stock worth $13,950,851 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GS. Powell Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,627 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 662 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently 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.