Allianz SE Purchases New Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Allianz SE purchased a new stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 140,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,909,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $1,935,599,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $198,231,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Citigroup by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,628 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

C has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Citigroup Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of C stock opened at $70.28 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.63. The company has a market capitalization of $132.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 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.