The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Trading Up 12.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) rose 12.1% during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $614.00 to $661.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group traded as high as $595.55 and last traded at $590.67. Approximately 3,494,288 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 2,196,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $526.96.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays increased their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $527.63.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total value of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 53.1% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 767 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.5% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 1,568 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Square Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 25.4% in the first quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 5,798 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 12.1 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $479.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market cap of $186.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 9.89%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.47 EPS. Analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.14 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

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.