Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Shares Purchased by Easterly Investment Partners LLC

Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 257,428 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,024 shares during the quarter. Citigroup comprises approximately 1.4% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $18,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in C. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,935,599,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at $565,000. LM Advisors LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 16,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191 shares during the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp lifted its position in Citigroup by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 1,009,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,051,000 after buying an additional 37,300 shares during the period. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth about $528,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.7 %

C opened at $73.20 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $77.39 and its 200-day moving average is $70.55. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Citigroup Company 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.