Global Retirement Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 160.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,705 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 18,907 shares during the quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $2,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of C. Core Alternative Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in Citigroup by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 184.0% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

C has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of C opened at $81.32 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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.