Cooke & Bieler LP Acquires Shares of 636,122 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Cooke & Bieler LP bought a new stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 636,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,777,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,492,238,000 after purchasing an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,112,698,000 after buying an additional 1,043,826 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after buying an additional 1,404,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,703,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,021,000 after acquiring an additional 240,628 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $67.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.83.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value 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 trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.