The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Shares Down 0.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) were down 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $593.00 and last traded at $598.81. Approximately 600,778 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 2,215,356 shares. The stock had previously closed at $603.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $472.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $189.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $531.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $495.51. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.47 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.90, for a total transaction of $1,061,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,359,435.50. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. This trade represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 896 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,167 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by 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.