DnB Asset Management AS Grows Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 596,063 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,933 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $41,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in C. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its position in Citigroup by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 4,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Citigroup by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 8,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $71.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.56. 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 firm has a market cap of $135.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.