Northern Trust Corp Buys 2,467,958 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,232,550 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,467,958 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,424,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in C. Core Alternative Capital grew its position in Citigroup by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in Citigroup by 150.0% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on C shares. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $84.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.61.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $68.47 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $128.88 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $69.38 and a 200 day moving average of $71.15. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $21.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.34 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.39%.

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

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. Corporate 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.