Legal & General Group shares fell 3% on Tuesday following significant downgrades from major investment banks. Goldman Sachs cut L&G to 'sell' from 'neutral' with an unchanged 257 pence price target, implying 17.4% downside from L&G's 311.2 pence close. UBS also downgraded L&G to 'sell' from 'neutral', raising its target to 280 pence from 260 pence, implying 12% downside from the 316 pence close on August 7th. The downgrades came after Citi Research made the same move a day earlier, citing lower 2026 estimated remittances after cutting its 2026-27 remittance forecasts by 4.5% following L&G's first-half 2026 results.
Goldman Sachs cited L&G's 'sector-leading credit leverage' as a key concern, stating that widening corporate spreads would be the 'best fundamental scenario' but would create 'sequencing risk' as history suggests shares would sell off first. Goldman raised its 2026 core operating EPS estimate by about 2% driven by higher Asset Management earnings, but cut its 2027-2030 estimates by about 3% on average as higher Institutional Retirement asset optimisation was offset by lower CSM release and higher Asset Management costs. UBS highlighted that L&G's UK bulk purchase annuity margin fell to 4.2% in the first half of 2026 from 7.1% a year earlier, which it attributed to intensifying competition and pricing headwinds. UBS expects management to miss its 2023-28 EPS compound annual growth rate target of 5-7% for the Institutional Retirement business, estimating 4.5% instead.
According to reports from MarketBeat, Goldman Sachs received a consensus rating of 'Moderate Buy' with a consensus price target of $1,062.86. The investment bank's stock opened at $1,031.06 on Tuesday, with the company reporting strong Q2 results that exceeded analyst expectations. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price from $1,050.00 to $1,130.00 and gave the stock a 'market perform' rating, while Morgan Stanley set a $1,145.00 price objective. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target from $1,070.00 to $1,190.00 with a 'market perform' rating, reflecting growing analyst confidence in the company's performance. Evercore restated an 'outperform' rating on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note on Monday, July 6th, while Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a 'neutral' rating in a report on Monday, April 13th.
As reported by MarketBeat, Goldman Sachs delivered exceptional Q2 results, reporting $20.98 earnings per share that beat the consensus estimate of $14.47 by $6.51. The company generated revenue of $20.34 billion, significantly higher than analyst estimates of $16.22 billion. Revenue increased 39.4% compared to the same quarter last year, demonstrating strong business momentum. The firm achieved a return on equity of 19.16% and net margin of 15.53%, while quarterly revenue was up 39.4% compared to the previous year's $10.91 EPS. Looking ahead, analysts forecast 68.89 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $1,056.24 and 200-day simple moving average is $958.46, with the stock having a quick ratio of 0.63 and debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17.
According to MarketBeat, 71.21% of Goldman Sachs stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Notable institutional changes included Audent Global Asset Management LLC increasing its stake by 10.1% during Q4, now owning 5,238 shares valued at $4,604,000. Oak Grove Capital LLC acquired a new stake worth $1,890,000, while Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings by 2.6%, now owning 141,990 shares valued at $124,889,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position by 35.0%, owning 11,944 shares valued at $10,499,000, and New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position by 92.4%, now holding 14,298 shares valued at $12,568,000. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC decreased its position by 24.2% in the second quarter, selling 6,709 shares and owning 21,041 shares valued at $21,280,000 at the end of the quarter.
As reported by MarketBeat, Goldman Sachs announced a quarterly dividend of $5.00 per share to be paid on Tuesday, September 29th, with stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st eligible for the dividend. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%, representing a positive change from the previous quarterly dividend of $4.50. The company maintains a market cap of $300.21 billion with a P/E ratio of 15.91 and PEG ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 52-week low of $705.55 and 52-week high of $1,153.99, with the company trading at $1,031.06 following recent positive analyst sentiment. The dividend payout ratio is currently 27.78%, with 0.55% of the stock currently owned by insiders.
