Busey Bank Raises Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Busey Bank raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 189,779 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,572 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $13,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,238,000 after purchasing an additional 791,758 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,970,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,813,544,000 after purchasing an additional 911,694 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,883,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,056,900,000 after purchasing an additional 242,545 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,120 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on C shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE C opened at $80.66 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.43. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.77.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released 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 firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.