Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock Price

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at Barclays from $760.00 to $720.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the investment management company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 44.10% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on GS. Oppenheimer downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $558.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities cut their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $593.40.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:GS opened at $499.65 on Tuesday. 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 has a 1-year low of $401.18 and a 1-year high of $672.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $567.52 and a 200 day moving average of $572.00. The firm has a market cap of $155.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The investment management company reported $14.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.57 by $1.55. The firm had revenue of $15.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.99 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 3,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 4,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,898,440.48. The trade was a 44.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total value of $3,313,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This trade represents a 59.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 over the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 161,500 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 112,696 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 63,864.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,976,684 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,172,423,000 after acquiring an additional 3,970,467 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,053,614,000 after acquiring an additional 687,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other 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.