The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Downgraded by Daiwa Capital Markets to “Neutral”

Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $560.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $660.00 to $594.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 8.1 %

GS stock opened at $469.57 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $597.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $573.99. The company has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 52 week low of $387.12 and a 52 week high of $672.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kevin R. Johnson bought 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $619.02 per share, with a total value of $1,485,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,034 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.01, for a total value of $1,275,338.34. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,047,349.55. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,524,669,000 after buying an additional 112,696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,586,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,053,614,000 after buying an additional 687,711 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,885,454,000 after buying an additional 428,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,010,583 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,723,920,000 after acquiring an additional 229,673 shares in the last quarter. 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.