Kempner Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Kempner Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 31.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 73,367 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,182 shares during the period. Citigroup makes up about 2.8% of Kempner Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Kempner Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $5,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,536,000 after buying an additional 27,856 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in Citigroup by 34.8% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in 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 purchasing an additional 8,301 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Citigroup by 1.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,270,000 after purchasing an additional 20,291 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on C shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Price Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $81.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.53. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $52.24 and a one year high of $82.77. The company has a market capitalization of $154.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.