VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Makes New Investment in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of C. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,378,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,115,000 after purchasing an additional 54,782 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 41,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,577,000 after buying an additional 3,630 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Citigroup by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 145,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,118,000 after buying an additional 3,482 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 149,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,374,000 after buying an additional 4,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in Citigroup by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 63,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

C has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $71.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $134.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.12. 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 (NYSE:C) last released 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 company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors 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 3.14%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citigroup news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % 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 in the last three months. 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.