The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Short Interest Down 5.2% in October

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,530,000 shares, a decline of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 4,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,358,685.04. This trade represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. UBS Group raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $535.75.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 0.8 %

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $593.54 on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a twelve month low of $334.55 and a twelve month high of $607.15. 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 has a market cap of $186.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $518.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $489.21.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% 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 period last year, the company earned $5.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

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.