The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading 0.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) rose 0.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $610.95 and last traded at $605.26. Approximately 567,100 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 2,212,391 shares. The stock had previously closed at $602.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $536.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $497.33. The firm has a market cap of $190.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value 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 approximately $34,358,685.04. This trade represents a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’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 value of $1,768,072.74. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. The trade was a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,582 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,529,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.1% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 100,119 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $45,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 341.8% during the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 11,527 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,815,000 after purchasing an additional 8,918 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.