Delta Financial Group Inc. Buys New Shares in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Core Alternative Capital grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter worth $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in Citigroup by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 184.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE C opened at $79.65 on Monday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.80 and its 200 day moving average is $68.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Profile

Citigroup Inc, a diversified financial service holding company, provides various financial product and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. It operates through five segments: Services, Markets, Banking, U.S. Personal Banking, and Wealth. The Services segment includes Treasury and Trade Solutions, which provides cash management, trade, and working capital solutions to multinational corporations, financial institutions, and public sector organizations; and Securities Services, such as cross-border support for clients, local market expertise, post-trade technologies, data solutions, and various securities services solutions.