Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $680.00 to $720.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

GS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC lowered The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of GS opened at $668.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $207.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $609.75 and a 200 day moving average of $555.95. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52-week low of $380.85 and a 52-week high of $672.19. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total value of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. This trade represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total value of $3,060,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475,140 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,603,315,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $944,334,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $624,844,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 14,007.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,059,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $606,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,204 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.