SlateStone Wealth LLC Raises Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,602 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 695 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Core Alternative Capital grew its holdings in Citigroup by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in Citigroup by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE C opened at $68.84 on Monday. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $129.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.00.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a share 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 buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid 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 3.25%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on C shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Company 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.