The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by HSBC

HSBC lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $608.00 target price on the investment management company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $569.00.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GS opened at $605.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $534.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $496.57. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $334.87 and a fifty-two week high of $611.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares in the company, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,713,325,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,991,772,000 after purchasing an additional 161,133 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,257,602,000 after purchasing an additional 77,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $957,684,000 after purchasing an additional 68,141 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.