Westpac Banking Corp Sells 1,130 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Westpac Banking Corp reduced its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,130 shares during the period. Citigroup makes up approximately 0.9% of Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $13,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at about $316,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1,188.9% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 11,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $724,000 after acquiring an additional 10,664 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,270,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 26,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 8,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Citigroup by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after acquiring an additional 8,301 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on C shares. Truist Financial began coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.86.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction 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 represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:C opened at $71.81 on Thursday. 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 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.01.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

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

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.