We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience.
This includes personalizing content and advertising.
By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties.
You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies.
In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Goldman's Wealth Management Business Emerges as Durable Growth Engine
Read MoreHide Full Article
Key Takeaways
Goldman's AWM generated $14.89B in 2025 revenues, with a record $11.54B in management fees.
GS saw private banking and lending revenues rise to $3.3B in 2025 on higher margins and loan strength.
Goldman's AUM grew to $3.61T, marking its 32nd straight quarter of long-term fee inflows.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s (GS - Free Report) Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) division is increasingly becoming a core pillar of the firm’s growth strategy, with 2025 results underscoring a steady shift toward more durable, fee-based revenues and lower balance-sheet intensity.
Goldman’s AWM division has become a central pillar of the firm’s strategy, with 2025 results highlighting a continued shift toward more durable, fee-based revenues and lower balance sheet intensity. AWM business generated $14.89 billion in net revenues in 2025, supported by record management and other fees of $11.54 billion. Since 2021, AWM division revenues witnessed a compounded annual growth rate of 12%.
AWM Net Revenues
Image Source: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Lending to wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs has been a key growth driver for the bank. Private banking and lending net revenues reached a record $3.3 billion in 2025, rising 16% from the prior year, as higher net interest margin and improved loan performance boosted the results. Management continues to emphasize lending penetration as a way to deepen client relationships and enhance returns.
Alternative investments remain a defining feature of the platform. Goldman oversees more than $625 billion in alternative assets, including $420 billion in alternative investments AUS, while gross third-party fundraising hit a record $115 billion in 2025. Since 2019, the firm has raised $438 billion in alternatives and expects $75-$100 billion in annual fundraising going forward.
AWM division’s scale continues to expand. Total assets under supervision rose to a record $3.61 trillion in 2025, up $469 billion year over year, driven by market appreciation and net inflows across all client channels. The firm also recorded its 32nd consecutive quarter of long-term fee-based net inflows, underscoring the strength and stickiness of its client base.
Profitability has improved alongside growth. AWM delivered a 25% pre-tax margin and a 12.5% return on equity in 2025. Goldman is targeting high-teens returns for the AWM division and roughly 5% annual growth in long-term fee-based net inflows over the medium term.
As Goldman rebalances away from more capital-intensive businesses, wealth management has emerged as a stabilizing earnings engine. The December 2025 agreement to acquire Innovator Capital Management further expands its ETF capabilities and reinforces the firm’s focus on building diversified, durable revenue streams for its next phase of growth.
JPMorgan’s Asset & Wealth Management segment is a steadier, fee-led profit engine inside the bank, spanning asset management and the private bank. In the fourth quarter of 2025, AWM net revenues were $6.5 billion (up 13% year over year), resulting in net income of $1.8 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2025, JPMorgan’s assets under management (AUM) hit $4.8 trillion and client assets touched $7.1 trillion.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth and asset management push is more than a diversification story. The wealth and asset management businesses’ aggregate contribution to total net revenues jumped to 54% in 2025 from 26% in 2010. By the end of 2025, total client assets across Wealth and Investment Management reached $9.3 trillion, supported by $356 billion of net new assets, keeping Morgan Stanley within sight of its long-stated $10 trillion ambition.
GS shares have surged 37.1% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 15.6%.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Goldman trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.95X, above the industry’s average of 13.99X.
Price-to-Earnings F12M
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GS’s 2026 and 2027 earnings implies year-over-year rallies of 10.3% and 10.6%, respectively. Estimates for both years have been revised upward over the past month.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Goldman's Wealth Management Business Emerges as Durable Growth Engine
Key Takeaways
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s (GS - Free Report) Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) division is increasingly becoming a core pillar of the firm’s growth strategy, with 2025 results underscoring a steady shift toward more durable, fee-based revenues and lower balance-sheet intensity.
Goldman’s AWM division has become a central pillar of the firm’s strategy, with 2025 results highlighting a continued shift toward more durable, fee-based revenues and lower balance sheet intensity. AWM business generated $14.89 billion in net revenues in 2025, supported by record management and other fees of $11.54 billion. Since 2021, AWM division revenues witnessed a compounded annual growth rate of 12%.
AWM Net Revenues
Lending to wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs has been a key growth driver for the bank. Private banking and lending net revenues reached a record $3.3 billion in 2025, rising 16% from the prior year, as higher net interest margin and improved loan performance boosted the results. Management continues to emphasize lending penetration as a way to deepen client relationships and enhance returns.
Alternative investments remain a defining feature of the platform. Goldman oversees more than $625 billion in alternative assets, including $420 billion in alternative investments AUS, while gross third-party fundraising hit a record $115 billion in 2025. Since 2019, the firm has raised $438 billion in alternatives and expects $75-$100 billion in annual fundraising going forward.
AWM division’s scale continues to expand. Total assets under supervision rose to a record $3.61 trillion in 2025, up $469 billion year over year, driven by market appreciation and net inflows across all client channels. The firm also recorded its 32nd consecutive quarter of long-term fee-based net inflows, underscoring the strength and stickiness of its client base.
Profitability has improved alongside growth. AWM delivered a 25% pre-tax margin and a 12.5% return on equity in 2025. Goldman is targeting high-teens returns for the AWM division and roughly 5% annual growth in long-term fee-based net inflows over the medium term.
As Goldman rebalances away from more capital-intensive businesses, wealth management has emerged as a stabilizing earnings engine. The December 2025 agreement to acquire Innovator Capital Management further expands its ETF capabilities and reinforces the firm’s focus on building diversified, durable revenue streams for its next phase of growth.
Where Do Goldman’s Peers Stand?
Two close peers of GS are JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) and Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) .
JPMorgan’s Asset & Wealth Management segment is a steadier, fee-led profit engine inside the bank, spanning asset management and the private bank. In the fourth quarter of 2025, AWM net revenues were $6.5 billion (up 13% year over year), resulting in net income of $1.8 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2025, JPMorgan’s assets under management (AUM) hit $4.8 trillion and client assets touched $7.1 trillion.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth and asset management push is more than a diversification story. The wealth and asset management businesses’ aggregate contribution to total net revenues jumped to 54% in 2025 from 26% in 2010. By the end of 2025, total client assets across Wealth and Investment Management reached $9.3 trillion, supported by $356 billion of net new assets, keeping Morgan Stanley within sight of its long-stated $10 trillion ambition.
Goldman’s Price Performance, Valuation, & Estimates
GS shares have surged 37.1% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 15.6%.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Goldman trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.95X, above the industry’s average of 13.99X.
Price-to-Earnings F12M
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GS’s 2026 and 2027 earnings implies year-over-year rallies of 10.3% and 10.6%, respectively. Estimates for both years have been revised upward over the past month.
Estimate Revision Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Goldman currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.