Goldman Sachs (GS) Stock Near Record Highs: Latest News, Analyst Forecasts and 2026 Outlook as of December 6, 2025

Date: December 6, 2025
Ticker: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS)

Goldman Sachs Stock Today: Price, Performance and Valuation

Goldman Sachs shares continue to ride a powerful uptrend into the final month of 2025. As of the close on Friday, December 5, 2025, the stock finished at $854.56, up 2% on the day and just shy of its 52‑week high of $856.20. ^[1]

Over the past year, Goldman Sachs (GS) has staged a dramatic rerating:

12‑month performance: a gain of a little over 40%. ^[2]
Year‑to‑date performance: up more than 50% in 2025, far outpacing the broader U.S. equity market. ^[3]
52‑week range: from about $439 (April low) to $856 (early December high), leaving shares trading close to double their 52‑week bottom. ^[4]

By traditional valuation metrics, the stock is no longer cheap. Current snapshot: ^[5]

Market capitalization: roughly $268 billion
Trailing 12‑month revenue: about $57.3 billion
Trailing 12‑month net income: about $15.8 billion
Earnings per share (EPS, TTM):$49.26
Price‑to‑earnings (P/E):~17.3x
Forward P/E:~15.8x
Annual dividend:$16.00 per share (recent quarterly dividend of $4.00), implying a dividend yield around 1.9% at current prices. ^[6]

For a capital markets heavyweight that just posted a double‑digit return on equity, those multiples are not excessive by growth‑stock standards. But relative to its own history and to other large banks, GS is now firmly priced as a high‑quality franchise rather than a turnaround story.

What the Business Looks Like Going Into 2026

Goldman Sachs operates across three main segments: Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions, offering advisory, trading, lending, asset management and consumer‑adjacent services to corporations, institutions, governments and high‑net‑worth individuals worldwide. ^[7]

The latest reported quarter – Q3 2025 – underscored the strength of this diversified model:

Q3 2025 EPS: about $12.25, beating consensus expectations. ^[8]
Quarterly revenue: roughly $15.2 billion, up around 20% year‑on‑year and ahead of analyst estimates by more than $1 billion. ^[9]
Return on common equity: in the mid‑teens (around 14–15%), indicating efficient use of capital. ^[10]

MarketBeat’s summary of recent analyst commentary highlights this earnings beat and return profile as key points in the “bull case” for the stock, citing the strong Q3 delivery and an attractive stream of dividends and buybacks. ^[11]

At the same time, the mix of earnings is shifting toward more stable, fee‑driven businesses:

Asset & Wealth Management is benefiting from rising markets, new alternatives platforms and ETF offerings. ^[12]
Global Banking & Markets remains a cyclical engine, with trading and investment banking fees rebounding as CEO confidence and M&A pipelines improve. ^[13]

This pivot toward recurring fee income – while maintaining a powerful trading franchise – is central to most constructive long‑term narratives around GS.

Latest Strategic Moves: ETFs, Alternatives and Long‑Dated Debt

$2 Billion Bet on Defined Outcome ETFs

The standout strategic headline this week remains Goldman’s plan to acquire Innovator Capital Management, a specialist in “defined outcome” exchange‑traded funds (ETFs). The deal, announced on December 1, 2025, values Innovator at about $2 billion. ^[14]

Key details:

Innovator manages roughly $28 billion in assets across 159 defined outcome ETFs as of September 30, 2025. ^[15]
These ETFs use options‑based strategies to shape investor outcomes – offering features like partial downside protection, yield enhancement or capped upside in exchange for specific payoff structures. ^[16]
Goldman’s management explicitly frames the deal as a way to expand active ETF and outcome‑oriented offerings within its asset management business, a segment where global active ETF assets are now estimated at $1.6 trillion. ^[17]

Analysts at Morningstar, among others, have described the price as rich but strategically coherent, aligning Goldman more directly with one of the fastest‑growing corners of the ETF universe. ^[18]

Deepening in Private Markets via Industry Ventures

The Innovator deal comes on the heels of Goldman’s agreement to acquire Industry Ventures, a venture capital platform managing about $7 billion in secondary and hybrid venture strategies. Management describes this as a bet on companies staying private longer and on investor demand for liquidity solutions in private markets. ^[19]

Together, Innovator and Industry Ventures reinforce Goldman’s push into higher‑fee, alternatives and wealth‑oriented businesses, supplementing the more cyclical deal‑making and trading engines.

Long‑Dated Bond Issuance and Structured Notes

On the funding side, Goldman has been especially active in late November and early December:

The bank issued a series of senior fixed‑income securities – including zero‑coupon notes out to 2041 and multiple callable fixed‑rate and step‑up senior and subordinated notes maturing between 2028 and 2055. ^[20]
GS Finance Corp. has also offered multiple auto‑callable structured notes linked to equity indices such as the S&P 500 Futures 40% VT Adaptive Response Index, all guaranteed by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ^[21]

Simply Wall St frames this issuance as routine balance‑sheet management, not a fundamental change in the investment case, but notes that it supports capital flexibility and future deployment into growth or capital returns. ^[22]

How Wall Street Sees GS: Big Rally, Modest Forecast Upside

Despite the near‑record share price, the analyst consensus on Goldman Sachs is surprisingly cool.

Consensus Ratings

Different data providers line up on roughly the same message:

MarketBeat:
- Consensus rating: Hold
- Based on 21 analysts over the last 12 months: 4 Buy, 16 Hold, 1 Sell. ^[23]
StockAnalysis:
- Average rating: Hold from 14 analysts. ^[24]
Public.com:
- Consensus: Hold from 14 analysts, with about 29% Buy, 64% Hold, and 7% Sell ratings as of December 6, 2025. ^[25]
Investing.com:
- Describes the consensus as “Neutral”, with 8 Buy, 15 Hold and 2 Sell recommendations among 19 analysts. ^[26]

In short, after a huge run‑up, Wall Street is not pounding the table on GS. It’s more a “you can keep holding it, but don’t expect fireworks from here” stance.

12‑Month Price Targets

Price targets tell a similar story: GS is trading above or near most published “fair value” estimates.

MarketBeat:
- Average 12‑month target:$786
- High:$890
- Low:$600
- Implied downside of about 8% from the current price around $854. ^[27]
StockAnalysis:
- Average target:$748.77, implying roughly 12% downside from last close. ^[28]
Public.com:
- Target:$754.14, essentially flat versus the last price in their dataset but well below today’s high‑800s print. ^[29]
StocksGuide (2026 focus):
- Average target: about $832.83 from 24 analysts, very close to current levels.
- Ratings: 15 Buy, 16 Hold, 1 Sell across 32 analysts in their broader compilation. ^[30]
Investing.com:
- Average target: around $802.5, with a high near $898 and a low in the high‑600s, and a Neutral consensus. ^[31]

Across these sources, the picture is consistent: GS has already rerated aggressively, and the average analyst sees limited upside, or even modest downside, over the next 12 months. The outliers still see room for the stock to approach or modestly exceed $900, but those are in the minority.

Analyst Themes: Why Bulls and Bears Disagree

Bullish Arguments

Bullish commentary tends to lean on four main points: ^[32]

Earnings Momentum:
Q3 2025 results showed double‑digit revenue growth, a strong EPS beat and a mid‑teens ROE, supporting the case that Goldman can compound earnings faster than the wider financial sector.
Shift Toward Fee‑Based and Alternatives Revenue:
Acquisitions like Innovator and Industry Ventures deepen GS’s footprint in higher‑margin, recurring ETF, alternatives and wealth management businesses, potentially dampening the cyclicality associated with trading and deal flows.
Capital Returns and Dividend Profile:
A ~2% dividend yield with room for continued buybacks appeals to investors looking for total‑shareholder‑return stories rather than pure growth.
Macro Tailwinds if Soft‑Landing Narrative Holds:
If Goldman’s own macro team is right and the U.S. economy reaccelerates modestly in 2026 while rates drift lower, activity in capital markets, wealth flows and investment banking should remain supportive.

Bearish Arguments

The main caution flags raised in analyst and independent commentary include: ^[33]

Valuation vs. Sector:
After a 40–50% rally, GS trades at a premium to many global banks and near the high end of its historical valuation range, while consensus price targets cluster below the current share price.
Regulatory and Capital Uncertainty:
Future capital requirements and evolving regulation – especially around trading, stress tests and large‑bank capital buffers – could constrain returns and buybacks.
Macro and Market Sensitivity:
Earnings still depend heavily on capital market volumes, equity valuations and risk appetite. A slowdown in M&A, IPOs or trading could hit revenue quickly.
Execution Risk on Strategic Pivot:
The shift toward ETFs, alternatives and wealth management is attractive in theory, but acquisitions must be integrated smoothly and priced correctly. Deals like Innovator at ~$2 billion are meaningful, and overpaying for growth could erode returns.
Crowded AI and Credit Theme:
Goldman’s own research highlights building investor concern around AI‑linked corporate debt, particularly in high‑yield markets, where an AI‑driven capex boom is being financed increasingly via credit rather than cash flows. ^[34]
If AI‑related projects under‑deliver, it could pressure credit spreads and trading P&L.

Macro Backdrop: Goldman’s Own 2026 Playbook

Goldman’s share price is not just a bet on one bank; it’s also a leveraged play on the firm’s macro view – which, as of early December 2025, is cautiously optimistic.

Fed Policy and Growth

In a December 3 note, Goldman Sachs Research laid out a “working assumption” for the U.S. Federal Reserve: ^[35]

A rate cut in December 2025 (widely expected).
A pause in January 2026, followed by additional cuts in March and June.
A terminal federal funds rate in the 3.0–3.25% range, down from roughly 3.75–4% currently.
U.S. GDP growth accelerating to 2–2.5% in 2026, helped by fading tariff effects, tax cuts and easier financial conditions.

Goldman’s economists see limited risk that resurgent inflation will derail this easing path, expecting core PCE inflation to trend back towards 2% as tariff impacts fade by mid‑2026. ^[36]

However, they warn that labor‑market weakness, especially among college‑educated workers, could worsen and ultimately force more, not fewer, rate cuts if unemployment rises sharply. ^[37]

Equity Market Outlook

Goldman’s equity strategists have become more optimistic on U.S. stocks over the medium term:

A recent forecast pegs the S&P 500 around 7,600 by 2026, implying low double‑digit upside from mid‑2025 levels. ^[38]
The firm estimates roughly 7% earnings growth in both 2025 and 2026, with the bulk of returns driven by earnings rather than multiple expansion. ^[39]
A separate long‑term projection points to the U.S. market delivering about 6.5% annualised returns over the coming decade, a “Goldilocks‑ish” environment but one vulnerable to shocks if valuations stay elevated. ^[40]

Global research from Goldman Sachs Asset Management expects 2026 growth of about 2.5% in the U.S., 1.2% in the euro area and 4.8% in China, with fading tariff headwinds and rising real incomes supporting risk assets. ^[41]

For Goldman’s shareholders, this macro stance matters doubly: it influences both client activity and the firm’s own risk‑taking and balance‑sheet deployment.

How the Market is Trading GS Right Now

Short‑term trading data reinforces just how strong the recent move has been:

Over the last week, GS is up around 4%.
Over the last month, the stock has gained roughly 8%.
Over the last year, returns exceed 40%, significantly beating the S&P 500. ^[42]

At the same time:

Volatility remains moderate, with GS’s beta around 1.3–1.5, meaning it tends to move slightly more than the market but not dramatically so. ^[43]
Trading volume – a bit over 2.3 million shares on December 5 – suggests elevated but not frenzied interest. ^[44]

Zacks and other research shops have flagged Goldman’s outperformance of the broader indices in recent weeks, noting that investors are increasingly focused on high‑quality financials with exposure to capital markets, AI financing and wealth management, rather than purely rate‑sensitive lenders. ^[45]

What This Means for Investors

Taken together, the data as of December 6, 2025 paints a nuanced picture of Goldman Sachs stock:

Fundamentals look strong. Earnings are beating expectations, revenue growth is robust, and returns on equity are solidly in the teens. The pivot toward ETFs, alternatives and wealth/asset management is real and being backed with capital. ^[46]
The macro playbook is cautiously positive. Goldman’s own economists expect moderate growth, lower rates and manageable inflation into 2026 – conditions that typically support capital markets activity and wealth accumulation. ^[47]
The stock price already reflects a lot of that optimism. Most major analyst compilations show GS trading above their average 12‑month targets, with consensus ratings stuck at Hold or Neutral even after significant target upgrades over 2025. ^[48]
Risks are real, not hypothetical. Regulatory capital, AI‑related credit concerns, potential market pullbacks and integration risk around acquisitions all sit in the “known unknowns” column. ^[49]

For long‑term investors, Goldman Sachs now looks less like a deep‑value bank and more like a mature, high‑quality financial platform priced roughly in line with its improved prospects. Upside from here, if it comes, will likely depend on:

Sustained earnings growth above the mid‑single‑digit expectations baked into many models.
Successful execution on ETF and alternatives expansions without overpaying or diluting returns.
A macro path that doesn’t badly undercut capital markets, AI investment or global risk appetite.

For shorter‑term traders, GS remains a liquid large‑cap name closely tied to interest‑rate expectations, equity volatility and M&A headlines – a stock that can move quickly when macro data or Fed commentary surprises.