The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $1,195.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $1,050.00 to $1,130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $891.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Dbs Bank upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $890.00 to $1,050.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,061.43.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $1,066.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $314.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.30. The Goldman Sachs Group has a one year low of $691.88 and a one year high of $1,153.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,035.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $945.82.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The investment management company reported $20.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.47 by $6.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 18.59% and a net margin of 15.53%.The business had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 66.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 6,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $973.55, for a total transaction of $6,675,632.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,070 shares in the company, valued at $30,248,198.50. This represents a 18.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 1,116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $936.18, for a total transaction of $1,044,776.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,413,472.04. The trade was a 30.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,566 shares of company stock valued at $30,712,978. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,515,830,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,657.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,596,487 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,282,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448,767 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth about $2,024,921,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,455,011 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,460,875,000 after purchasing an additional 476,977 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 428.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 556,254 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $488,947,000 after purchasing an additional 450,984 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about The Goldman Sachs Group

Here are the key news stories impacting The Goldman Sachs Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs was added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list, reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock after its strong quarterly results.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank also made Zacks’ Strong Buy income stocks list, reflecting investor interest in Goldman Sachs as a dividend and total-return play.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Goldman Sachs to $1,300 from $1,150 and kept a buy rating, implying additional upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan and other commentary highlighted Goldman Sachs’ strong first-half M&A performance, along with record Q2 results and a 25% dividend increase plus a $4 billion share repurchase program.
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs’ equity underwriting revenue jumped sharply, helped by renewed capital markets activity and AI-related deal flow, which supports optimism for future investment banking revenue.
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, Goldman Sachs disclosed a 3.5% voting interest in Qiagen, a portfolio-related filing that is not clearly material to Goldman’s own earnings outlook.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc is a global investment banking and financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1869 as a commercial paper business, the company has grown into a diversified financial institution that provides a broad range of services to corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. The firm is led by Chief Executive Officer David M. Solomon and operates across major financial centers worldwide.

Goldman Sachs’ core businesses include investment banking, global markets, asset and wealth management, and consumer banking.