Forsta AP Fonden Raises Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 441,200 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,200 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $31,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in Citigroup by 2.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 378,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,051,000 after purchasing an additional 10,518 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Citigroup by 58.4% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 127,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,067,000 after purchasing an additional 46,890 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.4% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 125,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,977,000 after buying an additional 3,004 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Citigroup by 23.6% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 3,313 shares during the period. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the second quarter worth $406,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer reduced 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $79.97 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.32. The firm has a market cap of $151.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.77. 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 (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.