Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Position Trimmed by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 70.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,324 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,080 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Citigroup by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Citigroup by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,628 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Citigroup by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 103.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 48,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410,950 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Stock Down 0.8 %

Citigroup stock opened at $83.94 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer decreased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given 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 price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Company 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.