Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Invests $10.30 Million in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 146,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,295,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in Citigroup by 34.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 8,301 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased 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 buying an additional 12,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,270,000 after buying an additional 20,291 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of 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 raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $81.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.24 and a 52-week high of $82.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.