The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at HSBC

HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $608.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $569.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $614.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

GS stock opened at $605.43 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $190.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $538.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $498.08. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $334.87 and a fifty-two week high of $612.25. 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 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.77 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total value of $1,768,072.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This trade represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,656,119 over the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,475,140 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,042,640 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,991,772,000 after acquiring an additional 161,133 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,435,144,000 after acquiring an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,780,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,257,602,000 after acquiring an additional 77,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,117,311 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $957,684,000 after acquiring an additional 68,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.