The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Shares Down 1.9%

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) dropped 1.9% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $414.85 and last traded at $415.21. Approximately 546,121 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 2,368,038 shares. The stock had previously closed at $423.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $478.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $382.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $445.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.93.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $400.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $370.11. The stock has a market cap of $138.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.54 by $3.04. The business had revenue of $14.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 8.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.79 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 35.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a $2.75 dividend. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 42.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total transaction of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,947.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total transaction of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,947.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group 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 transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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 bought and sold shares of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% in the third quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.0% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.4% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 90,602 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,316,000 after buying an additional 7,047 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 9.7% during the third quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 375,100 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $121,371,000 after buying an additional 33,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 14.5% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,189 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.