Banco Santander S.A. Purchases 348,310 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 130.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 615,857 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 348,310 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $43,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in C. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Citigroup by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,378,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,115,000 after acquiring an additional 54,782 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 15.4% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 2,043 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 11.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,728,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,389,000 after buying an additional 383,534 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 7.0% during the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 54,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,385,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 13.0% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 17,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 1,992 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % 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 worth $8,523,149. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed 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 raised 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, Bank of America raised their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C opened at $70.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 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.