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

HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. HSBC currently has $608.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $569.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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 research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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 research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS opened at $605.43 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $538.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $498.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 1 year low of $334.87 and a 1 year high of $612.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.35.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The investment management company reported $8.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $1.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.15 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,489 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,795.39. The trade was a 25.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 2,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 10,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,359,435.50. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,390 shares of company stock worth $6,656,119. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Goldman Sachs Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GS. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 103.3% during the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 6,300.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 64 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 63 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.