Legal & General Group Plc Raises Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,428,251 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 913,231 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,105,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 967,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,776,000 after purchasing an additional 173,137 shares during the last quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. lifted its position in Citigroup by 355.9% during the first quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 19,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 14,922 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Citigroup by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 73,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,653,000 after buying an additional 8,593 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 201,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,739,000 after buying an additional 23,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,187,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,398,000 after buying an additional 350,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on C shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Citigroup from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.25.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $61.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.92 and its 200 day moving average is $61.58. The company has a market capitalization of $117.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.45. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.17 and a twelve month high of $67.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.07 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.26% and a net margin of 4.95%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This is an increase from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

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.