Aspen Investment Management Inc Has $3.49 Million Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Aspen Investment Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,087 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. The Goldman Sachs Group comprises 1.6% of Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $3,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2,869.1% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,925 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,974,000 after buying an additional 13,456 shares in the last quarter. Aspect Partners LLC raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 122 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,575 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC bought a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 123,930 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,965,000 after purchasing an additional 11,593 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $680.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $593.56.

Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group

In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 6,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,460.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 117,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,015,903.53. The trade was a 5.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Treasurer Carey Halio sold 1,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.67, for a total value of $965,115.15. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 8,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,117,296.64. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,475 shares of company stock valued at $19,692,543 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

NYSE GS opened at $642.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $200.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $381.26 and a twelve month high of $672.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $610.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $556.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.12 EPS for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The Goldman Sachs Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.59%.

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.