Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,883 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,514 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $4,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in Citigroup by 69.3% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of C opened at $78.51 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.51 and a 1-year high of $79.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $70.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 0.59 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

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.