Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 39.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,400 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Core Alternative Capital increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In related news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on C shares. Truist Financial started coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Down 3.1 %

C stock opened at $81.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.32. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $153.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.