World Equity Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

World Equity Group Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,980 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,238,000 after buying an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,970,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,813,544,000 after purchasing an additional 911,694 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Citigroup by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,120 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Citigroup by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,703,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,021,000 after buying an additional 240,628 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on C. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of C opened at $79.65 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.80 and its 200 day moving average is $68.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $150.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup 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.