Short Interest in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Rises By 10.3%

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,870,000 shares, an increase of 10.3% from the August 15th total of 5,320,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total transaction of $1,770,965.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.99, for a total transaction of $1,770,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,119,949.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas K. Montag sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $5,050,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,748. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the first quarter worth about $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,120,119,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,102.4% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 810,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $366,780,000 after buying an additional 743,402 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,184,196 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $842,597,000 after buying an additional 464,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 7,932.6% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $200,959,000 after acquiring an additional 438,754 shares during the period. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GS shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $513.00 to $561.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $493.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $464.00 to $472.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $496.44.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:GS traded down $0.69 on Wednesday, reaching $484.70. 1,699,245 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,251,688. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $491.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.20. The company has a market capitalization of $156.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.36. The Goldman Sachs Group has a 12 month low of $289.36 and a 12 month high of $517.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The investment management company reported $8.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.10. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.60 billion. Equities analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 35.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.75. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.86%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Company Profile

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.