The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Shares Down 0.8%

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) traded down 0.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $466.14 and last traded at $466.68. 439,589 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,328,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $470.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $479.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $445.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $440.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $149.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $420.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $388.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.54 by $3.04. The firm had revenue of $14.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 8.17%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.79 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.57 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.95%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total value of $4,550,956.00. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of the 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 sale, the treasurer now owns 18,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,190,901.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total value of $5,001,372.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,947.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,330 shares of company stock valued at $11,713,578. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter worth $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,120,119,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,184,196 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $842,597,000 after purchasing an additional 464,954 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,693,331 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,842,192,000 after purchasing an additional 412,383 shares during the period. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 26,378.2% in the first quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 407,764 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 406,224 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company's stock.

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.