Hobbs Group Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,894 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 856 shares during the quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Citigroup by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,492,238,000 after acquiring an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Citigroup by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,112,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,826 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,935,599,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 9.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

C has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer decreased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.50.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $70.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $132.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.51 and a twelve month high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

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 stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’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 owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was 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 valued at $8,523,149 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.