Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,914,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,112,365 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,401,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth $1,935,599,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth about $198,231,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

NYSE C opened at $70.48 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $53.51 and a twelve month high of $84.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $76.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.00. The firm has a market cap of $132.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors 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 3.18%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.