Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Stock Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,143 shares of the company’s stock after selling 545 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $10,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LM Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 16,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 2,191 shares during the period. Homestead Advisers Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 1,009,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,051,000 after acquiring an additional 37,300 shares during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth about $528,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 118,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,334,000 after purchasing an additional 28,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in Citigroup by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,125,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,239,000 after purchasing an additional 163,442 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $70.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.72.

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

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on C shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Oppenheimer cut their price target 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.