Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1,328.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 130,248 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 121,130 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $8,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 123.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,716,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,005,749,000 after purchasing an additional 17,525,484 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,756,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,881,805,000 after purchasing an additional 4,620,867 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,755,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,273,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836,283 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 17,775,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,395,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,520 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $867,599,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Stock Performance

NYSE C traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $65.87. 12,935,325 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,829,383. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.08 and its 200-day moving average is $59.95. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.17 and a 1 year high of $67.81. The company has a market capitalization of $125.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.13. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 6.26%. The firm had revenue of $20.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This is an increase from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 59.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.06.

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.