Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 6,647 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 48.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,247 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,647 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in C. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Citigroup in the second quarter valued at $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 184.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on C. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Price Performance

C stock opened at $79.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $72.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.32. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.24 and a 52-week high of $82.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released 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. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

About Citigroup

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.