Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Goldman Sachs Is Still Making Money
Goldman Sachs: Next In Line For A Dividend Hike?
About: (Goldman Sachs, GS)
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is proficient at making money. Now considered a traditional bank because it took $10 billion in TARP funds, Goldman is still nothing short of an investment bank. After all, you won’t see a Goldman Sachs branch in your neighborhood anytime soon and you can’t get a Goldman Sachs checking account. That said, you can certainly make a lot of money owning this stock.
But some shareholders want more and rightfully so. Goldman does a good job of enveloping itself in controversy by announcing massive bonuses for its top employees. Bonuses for the first half of 2009 at Goldman averaged $386,000 per employee. That includes everyone from traders to janitors. Some big shareholders have had enough and they want Goldman to start sharing the wealth in the form of increased dividends.
Goldman currently pays $1.40 a share per year for a paltry yield of 0.80%. Noted bank analyst Dick Bove has said Goldman could “meaningfully” increase its dividend as part of the company’s plan to repair its public image and an increase could happen within the next three months. Stay tuned.
