Apella Capital LLC Makes New $229,000 Investment in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Apella Capital LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 7.1% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. MWA Asset Management raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 1.4% in the third quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 12,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 67,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,209,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Citigroup by 9.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

C has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Citigroup from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.13.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $78.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $148.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.22. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $50.51 and a one year high of $79.25.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.93%.

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

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.