LVZ Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

LVZ Inc. grew its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,813 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares during the quarter. LVZ Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of C. Core Alternative Capital increased its holdings in Citigroup by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in Citigroup by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $72.25 on Wednesday. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $136.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on C shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.