Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 957 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GS. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 110.0% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 63 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock opened at $655.76 on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $375.20 and a 1 year high of $663.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $599.07 and a 200 day moving average of $545.29. The firm has a market cap of $203.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.39.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.21 by $3.74. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is 29.59%.

Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group

In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total value of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,015,903.53. This trade represents a 5.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total transaction of $965,115.15. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 8,192 shares in the company, valued at $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. HSBC cut shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $569.00 to $608.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $686.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $713.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.06.

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.