Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires New Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 633,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,659,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 352,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,844,000 after buying an additional 11,674 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after purchasing an additional 27,856 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 34.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Citigroup by 168.7% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after buying an additional 8,301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on C. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.23.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE C opened at $58.00 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.95.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

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

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate 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.