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 four segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. The company's Investment Banking segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and middle-market lending, relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as transaction banking services. This segment also offers underwriting services, such as equity underwriting for common and preferred stock and convertible and exchangeable securities; and debt underwriting for various types of debt instruments, including investment-grade and high-yield debt, bank and bridge loans, and emerging-and growth-market debt, as well as originates structured securities. Its Global Markets segment is involved in client execution activities for cash and derivative instruments; credit and interest rate products; and provision of equity intermediation and equity financing, clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as mortgages, currencies, commodities, and equities related products. The company's Asset Management segment manages assets across various classes, including equity, fixed income, hedge funds, credit funds, private equity, real estate, currencies, and commodities; and provides customized investment advisory solutions, as well as invests in corporate, real estate, and infrastructure entities. Its Consumer & Wealth Management segment offers wealth advisory and banking services, including financial planning, investment management, deposit taking, and lending; private banking; and unsecured loans, as well as accepts saving and time deposits. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $418.00 to $354.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 12th. Bank of America upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $461.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 19th. Credit Suisse Group set a $415.00 target price on The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $370.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.92.
The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.1 %
NYSE:GS opened at $351.68 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $277.84 and a 12 month high of $426.16. The stock has a market cap of $120.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $307.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.
The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 18th. The investment management company reported $7.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.61 by $1.12. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.75%. The firm had revenue of $11.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $15.02 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 34.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 26th were given a dividend of $2.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.
Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group
In related news, Director Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 451,401 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total transaction of $9,244,692.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,996,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,880,885.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,320,622 shares of company stock valued at $25,684,252 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.
