Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Buys Shares of 8,023 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Citigroup by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,947,912 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $198,231,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Citigroup by 70.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of 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 reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $71.90 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $135.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $77.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.56.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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