The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. CICC Research raised their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $825.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. HSBC raised their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $729.00 to $765.00 in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Oppenheimer downgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $940.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,061.43.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS opened at $1,066.28 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $691.88 and a 52 week high of $1,153.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $314.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,035.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $945.44.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The investment management company reported $20.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.47 by $6.51. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 66.83 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $5.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.50. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.87%.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Alex S. Golten sold 1,116 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $936.18, for a total value of $1,044,776.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,413,472.04. The trade was a 30.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 6,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $973.55, for a total value of $6,675,632.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,070 shares in the company, valued at $30,248,198.50. This trade represents a 18.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,566 shares of company stock worth $30,712,978. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 287.5% during the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 31 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. bought a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Key The Goldman Sachs Group News

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.