Elgethun Capital Management Acquires 80,271 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Elgethun Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 102.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 158,599 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 80,271 shares during the period. Citigroup comprises about 2.7% of Elgethun Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Elgethun Capital Management’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $11,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Citigroup by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 64,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Citigroup by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,247,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,143,633,000 after buying an additional 1,970,300 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 883,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,309,000 after buying an additional 23,053 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 4,319.3% during the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 167,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,793,000 after buying an additional 163,743 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after purchasing an additional 7,863,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

C has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.23.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $58.00 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.11. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. 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 firm has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

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