Sanders Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,237,923 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 154,373 shares during the quarter. Citigroup makes up approximately 1.3% of Sanders Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $861,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,484,000 after buying an additional 667,357 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,311,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,850 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,112,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,935,599,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:C opened at $61.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.94. The stock has a market cap of $116.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year 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.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. 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.