The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Sets New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group's stock has reached a new 52-week high of $746.20, reflecting strong market performance with a trading volume of nearly 700,000 shares.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $10.91, surpassing analysts' expectations, and a 14.5% revenue increase compared to the prior year.
• Goldman Sachs also announced a dividend increase to $4.00 per share, reflecting a boost from the previous dividend of $3.00, and establishing a yield of 2.2%.

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $745.00 and last traded at $746.20, with a volume of 698762 shares. The stock had previously closed at $719.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GS. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $715.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $660.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $692.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $617.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.82 by $1.09. The business had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $4.00 dividend. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is currently 26.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,008 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.39, for a total transaction of $4,310,079.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 65,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,176,283.79. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total transaction of $4,706,944.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,876,426.56. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,079 shares of company stock valued at $14,423,221 over the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $20,566,005,000 after acquiring an additional 29,053,586 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $2,172,423,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,467 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth approximately $1,766,238,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the second quarter worth approximately $2,138,031,000. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $944,334,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company's stock.

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.