The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $612.50 and last traded at $612.50, with a volume of 7097 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $602.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $534.27 and a 200 day moving average of $496.57. The stock has a market cap of $189.98 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.7% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 15,998 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,920,000 after buying an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,788,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 18.7% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,563 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.2% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,185 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 79.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 63,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,493,000 after buying an additional 28,165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.