The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GS. HSBC lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $729.00 to $765.00 in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $900.00 to $955.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $890.00 to $1,050.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,061.43.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS opened at $1,066.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,035.20 and a 200 day moving average of $945.44. The company has a market capitalization of $314.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.30. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $691.88 and a 12 month high of $1,153.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The investment management company reported $20.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.47 by $6.51. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.22 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 18.59% and a net margin of 15.53%.The business’s revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 64.34 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $5.00 dividend. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is presently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 14,292 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $939.07, for a total value of $13,421,188.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,703,018.99. The trade was a 47.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 1,116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $936.18, for a total transaction of $1,044,776.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,413,472.04. The trade was a 30.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,566 shares of company stock valued at $30,712,978. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,014,431 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $25,503,685,000 after purchasing an additional 418,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,564,783 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,197,444,000 after purchasing an additional 394,198 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,771,556 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,952,199,000 after buying an additional 110,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,726,721 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,896,795,000 after buying an additional 45,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,455,011 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,460,875,000 after buying an additional 476,977 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about The Goldman Sachs Group

Here are the key news stories impacting The Goldman Sachs Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs was added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list, reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock after its strong quarterly results.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank also made Zacks’ Strong Buy income stocks list, reflecting investor interest in Goldman Sachs as a dividend and total-return play.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Goldman Sachs to $1,300 from $1,150 and kept a buy rating, implying additional upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan and other commentary highlighted Goldman Sachs’ strong first-half M&A performance, along with record Q2 results and a 25% dividend increase plus a $4 billion share repurchase program.
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs’ equity underwriting revenue jumped sharply, helped by renewed capital markets activity and AI-related deal flow, which supports optimism for future investment banking revenue.
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, Goldman Sachs disclosed a 3.5% voting interest in Qiagen, a portfolio-related filing that is not clearly material to Goldman’s own earnings outlook.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc is a global investment banking and financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1869 as a commercial paper business, the company has grown into a diversified financial institution that provides a broad range of services to corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. The firm is led by Chief Executive Officer David M. Solomon and operates across major financial centers worldwide.

Goldman Sachs’ core businesses include investment banking, global markets, asset and wealth management, and consumer banking.