Tradewinds LLC. Sells 428 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Tradewinds LLC. cut its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,525 shares of the company’s stock after selling 428 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,935,599,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,912 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $198,231,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Citigroup by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after buying an additional 1,731,527 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on C shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.29.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C stock opened at $70.48 on Wednesday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $132.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.00.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 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 company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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.