West Branch Capital LLC Lowers Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

West Branch Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 72.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 551 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,425 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Citigroup by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after buying an additional 27,856 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,301 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 168.7% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,270,000 after buying an additional 20,291 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $81.74 on Wednesday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.95 and a 1-year high of $81.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

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.