Brokerages Set The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Target Price at $591.06

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $591.06.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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, October 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin R. Johnson purchased 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $619.02 per share, for a total transaction of $1,485,648.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,485,648. This represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,865 shares of company stock worth $25,286,862 in the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth $34,000. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GS opened at $640.15 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $596.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $541.17. The Goldman Sachs Group has a twelve month low of $375.20 and a twelve month high of $650.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38. 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 data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.48 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.1 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

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.