Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Stake Lifted by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 50.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 381,530 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,518 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $26,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth approximately $395,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,853,484,000 after acquiring an additional 667,357 shares during the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $862,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,311,048,000 after buying an additional 2,804,850 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $71.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $76.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.91. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS 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 revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on C. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.50.

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.