The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Price Target Raised to $720.00

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $680.00 to $720.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on GS. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. 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, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $593.56.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of GS stock traded down $16.56 on Wednesday, hitting $625.70. The stock had a trading volume of 2,996,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,555,497. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $611.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $557.71. The company has a market cap of $195.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group has a one year low of $381.42 and a one year high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.48 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The Goldman Sachs Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.74, for a total value of $2,317,733.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 4,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,475 shares of company stock worth $19,692,543 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475,140 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,584,202 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,761,576,000 after acquiring an additional 161,500 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 112,696 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,053,614,000 after acquiring an additional 687,711 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,885,454,000 after acquiring an additional 428,502 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.