Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,102 shares of the company’s stock after selling 987 shares during the period. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of C. Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its position in Citigroup by 146.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 184,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,982,000 after buying an additional 109,627 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 221,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,566,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank grew its stake in Citigroup by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 39,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 23,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 148.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,524,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,704,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays upgraded 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $63.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $119.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.91. 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.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.34 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. Equities research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Company 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.