The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $645.91 and last traded at $645.35, with a volume of 257340 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $637.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, November 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.06.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $593.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $538.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 46.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,657 shares of company stock worth $21,973,272 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $624,000. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Axecap Investments LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Axecap Investments LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 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.