DnB Asset Management AS Acquires 11,933 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 596,063 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $41,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Citigroup by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,536,000 after buying an additional 27,856 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in Citigroup by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 200,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,139,000 after purchasing an additional 22,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $71.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.56.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’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 $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.