The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Shares Down 0.4%

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) shares fell 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $488.40 and last traded at $490.13. 363,651 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 2,332,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $491.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GS. Citigroup lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $504.00 to $559.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.94.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $160.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $472.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $433.98.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.60 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 9.36%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 36.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,981,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 4,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.34, for a total transaction of $25,360,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,981,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,299,679.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total value of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,013,500 shares of company stock worth $32,181,365. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 166,656 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,291,000 after buying an additional 20,018 shares during the period. HTLF Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter worth $850,000. Apexium Financial LP raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,672 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 62.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,632,000 after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 1st quarter valued at $1,388,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.