The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Short Interest Update

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a decline of 11.4% from the September 15th total of 5,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GS shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $524.69.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE GS traded up $2.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $532.70. The company had a trading volume of 627,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,214,062. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1-year low of $289.36 and a 1-year high of $540.51. The company has a market capitalization of $171.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $496.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $467.83.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its 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 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 35.52 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 46.86%.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GS. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,903,374,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $366,780,000 after purchasing an additional 743,402 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7,932.6% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $200,959,000 after purchasing an additional 438,754 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 878.8% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 397,082 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $179,608,000 after purchasing an additional 356,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at $137,134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.