Plato Investment Management Ltd Has $4.43 Million Stock Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,666 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 443 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $4,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,112,698,000 after buying an additional 1,043,826 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 9.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on C. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $79.78 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.38. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.