The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after HSBC raised their price target on the stock from $432.00 to $460.00. HSBC currently has a buy rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group traded as high as $419.20 and last traded at $418.07, with a volume of 259021 shares. The stock had previously closed at $415.25.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GS. Morgan Stanley upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $333.00 to $449.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $382.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $357.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $437.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $411.10.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total transaction of $4,550,956.00. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total transaction of $4,550,956.00. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.39, for a total value of $1,129,170.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,121 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,443.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,907 shares of company stock valued at $15,080,021 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,120,119,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,936,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,038,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,350 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 168,772.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,244,589 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $427,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243,852 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at $2,300,710,000. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27,076.5% during the third quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 653,322 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $211,396,000 after purchasing an additional 650,918 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $135.17 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $387.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $357.13.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The investment management company reported $5.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $1.86. The company had revenue of $11.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 7.85%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 33.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th will be issued a dividend of $2.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.20%.

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.