Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $7,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Citigroup by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 2,389 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $256,000. Core Alternative Capital increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% during 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. Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on C. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:C opened at $81.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.44. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.24 and a 1-year high of $82.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS 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 company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

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.