Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price target hoisted by Citigroup from $485.00 to $585.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $542.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $602.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1-year low of $334.87 and a 1-year high of $607.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $529.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $494.13. The company has a market capitalization of $189.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total value of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following 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 ninety days, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,713,325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,991,772,000 after acquiring an additional 161,133 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,435,144,000 after acquiring an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,257,602,000 after acquiring an additional 77,700 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $957,684,000 after purchasing an additional 68,141 shares during the last quarter. 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.