The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $1.55 EPS

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The investment management company reported $14.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55, Zacks reports. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $494.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.20, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $576.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $572.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $395.18 and a 12 month high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares in the company, valued at $5,117,296.64. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,255,506.25. The trade was a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 in the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

An institutional investor recently raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,474 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $586.00.

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.