Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price target boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $771.00 to $790.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on GS. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $650.00 to $785.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $649.29.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE:GS opened at $708.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $217.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $647.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $601.08. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1-year low of $437.37 and a 1-year high of $726.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 35.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GS. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 29,058,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,566,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29,053,586 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,172,423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970,467 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,766,238,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,603,315,000. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $944,334,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.