Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 31,883 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 184,527 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 31,883 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $12,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,238,000 after acquiring an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,970,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,813,544,000 after buying an additional 911,694 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 9.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after buying an additional 1,404,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 2.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,703,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,021,000 after buying an additional 240,628 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $78.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.08 and a 200-day moving average of $68.94. The stock has a market cap of $147.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citigroup news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction 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 approximately $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Citigroup

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.