Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 803,772 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,669 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $56,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 12,280 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,236,000 after acquiring an additional 8,301 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 200,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,139,000 after acquiring an additional 22,657 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on C shares. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE C opened at $71.80 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07, 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

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.