Short Interest in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Increases By 5.7%

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,790,000 shares, a growth of 5.7% from the October 31st total of 4,530,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This trade represents a 10.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,660,088 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $898,428,000 after acquiring an additional 62,246 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 15,998 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,920,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,788,000 after buying an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 18.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,563 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.2% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,185 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock traded up $1.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $603.22. 651,895 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,208,855. The stock has a market cap of $189.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $540.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $499.68. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $340.54 and a 12 month high of $612.73.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted 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 Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $570.00 to $686.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $565.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $557.88.

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.