The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Daiwa Capital Markets

Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $560.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GS. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $660.00 to $594.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $469.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $597.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $572.76. The company has a market cap of $146.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The Goldman Sachs Group has a one year low of $387.12 and a one year high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kevin R. Johnson purchased 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $619.02 per share, for a total transaction of $1,485,648.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,485,648. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total transaction of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. This represents a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 in the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 224,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $129,144,000 after acquiring an additional 5,541 shares in the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. lifted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 15,506 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $8,879,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,743 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 38,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $21,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $356,000. 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.