Athena Investment Management Trims Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Athena Investment Management cut its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,295 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. 71.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,117,296.64. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alex S. Golten sold 5,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.25, for a total transaction of $3,313,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,255,506.25. This represents a 59.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,630,683 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of GS opened at $622.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $194.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $616.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.46. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $381.42 and a 1 year high of $672.19.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GS. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $690.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $677.00 to $639.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.69.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

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.