Daiwa Capital Markets Downgrades The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) to Neutral

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) was downgraded by research analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $560.00 price target on the investment management company’s stock. Daiwa Capital Markets’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 9.64% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $782.00 to $659.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $625.00 to $614.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $720.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $585.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $589.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

GS stock opened at $510.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $159.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.33. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $600.89 and a 200-day moving average of $572.87. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12-month low of $387.12 and a 12-month high of $672.19.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.48 earnings per share. The Goldman Sachs Group’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 47.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.69, for a total value of $4,758,905.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,589 shares in the company, valued at $6,086,042.41. This trade represents a 43.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin R. Johnson bought 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $619.02 per share, with a total value of $1,485,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,485,648. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock worth $12,630,683 in the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GS. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $3,761,576,000 after purchasing an additional 161,500 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,155,336 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 112,696 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,053,614,000 after purchasing an additional 687,711 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,010,583 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,723,920,000 after buying an additional 229,673 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.