The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $3.00

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 3.00 per share by the investment management company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

The Goldman Sachs Group has increased its dividend by an average of 21.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. The Goldman Sachs Group has a dividend payout ratio of 24.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect The Goldman Sachs Group to earn $43.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $12.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock traded up $6.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $612.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,168,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,406,932. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $192.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $585.87 and a 200 day moving average of $528.13. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $372.07 and a 12 month high of $616.84.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. The trade was a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David A. Viniar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.08, for a total transaction of $3,060,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 608,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,404,774. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GS. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities raised their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.19.

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.