The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Short Interest Up 9.0% in March

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,090,000 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the March 15th total of 4,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

The Goldman Sachs Group Price Performance

NYSE GS traded up $11.26 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $400.75. The company had a trading volume of 6,172,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,408. The company has a market capitalization of $130.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $394.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $364.03. The Goldman Sachs Group has a twelve month low of $289.36 and a twelve month high of $419.20.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The investment management company reported $11.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.57 by $3.01. The firm had revenue of $14.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.94 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 7.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.79 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group will post 32.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on GS shares. JMP Securities lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $421.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $437.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $382.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total value of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,417 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,947.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, CFO Denis P. Coleman sold 12,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.43, for a total value of $5,001,372.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,417 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,947.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Philip R. Berlinski sold 11,650 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.64, for a total value of $4,550,956.00. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 18,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,190,901.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,907 shares of company stock worth $15,080,021 over the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Goldman Sachs Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GS. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth $1,903,374,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $1,120,119,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,936,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,038,425,000 after buying an additional 1,696,350 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 168,772.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,244,589 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $427,367,000 after buying an additional 1,243,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 27,076.5% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 653,322 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $211,396,000 after buying an additional 650,918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

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.