Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,728,261 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 383,534 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $233,389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Citigroup during the third quarter worth approximately $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 160.4% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC increased its position in Citigroup by 10.9% during the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 4,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on C. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Citigroup from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Citigroup from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.47.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:C opened at $68.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.45. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.87 and a 1 year high of $73.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.86 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

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.