The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Sets New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group's stock price reached a new 52-week high of $821.25, with recent trading volume of 138,821 shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for the stock, with five Buy ratings, eleven Hold ratings, and one Sell rating, leading to a consensus target price of $665.00.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $3.00 to $4.00, reflecting a positive change in shareholder returns.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $820.00 and last traded at $821.25, with a volume of 138821 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $805.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GS. Zacks Research lowered shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and set a $627.00 target price (up previously from $558.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $771.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $665.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $739.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $640.52. The company has a market cap of $245.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The company had revenue of $14.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $4.00 dividend. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group's previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group's payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Insider Activity

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, COO John E. Waldron sold 9,244 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $750.11, for a total value of $6,934,016.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 115,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,463,679.48. This represents a 7.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.40, for a total transaction of $5,406,197.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,469,493.60. This trade represents a 28.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,323 shares of company stock worth $28,111,828 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 617,504.5% in the 2nd 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,539,746 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $4,628,507,000 after acquiring an additional 227,604 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the 1st 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,379,900 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,392,124,000 after acquiring an additional 157,473 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,804 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,820,677,000 after acquiring an additional 40,125 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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