Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Stock

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $736.00 to $782.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the investment management company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Up 1.0 %

GS traded up $6.27 on Thursday, reaching $612.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,771,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,314,463. The company has a market capitalization of $192.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.38. The Goldman Sachs Group has a fifty-two week low of $372.07 and a fifty-two week high of $616.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $585.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $527.58.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 37.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total value of $3,826,245.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,940 shares of company stock valued at $12,656,179 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 30,068.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,713,325,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475,140 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,898,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,435,144,000 after purchasing an additional 521,054 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7,932.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $200,959,000 after purchasing an additional 438,754 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 414,867 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $205,403,000 after purchasing an additional 251,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 829.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 260,317 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $128,886,000 after buying an additional 232,297 shares in the last quarter. 71.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.