VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Makes New Investment in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of C. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 596,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,985,000 after acquiring an additional 74,470 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 189,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,352,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Citigroup by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 275,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,409,000 after purchasing an additional 5,596 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 108,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,629,000 after buying an additional 13,278 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,563,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C opened at $71.43 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $77.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.12. The company has a market cap of $134.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.