The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Now Covered by BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $785.00 price target on the investment management company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GS. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $752.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $706.00 to $854.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $750.00 to $843.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $717.00.

The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE GS opened at $790.32 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $755.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $656.38. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $439.38 and a 52 week high of $825.25. The stock has a market cap of $239.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The investment management company reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.82 by $1.09. The firm had revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a $4.00 dividend. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $16.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 7,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 18,594 shares in the company, valued at $13,469,493.60. The trade was a 28.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.31, for a total value of $4,706,944.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,876,426.56. This represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,323 shares of company stock valued at $28,111,828. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.4% in the second quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 429 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Avion Wealth increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 31.1% during the second quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 59 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 668 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 653 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 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.