Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 34.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,214,204 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 569,565 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.12% of Citigroup worth $155,858,000 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,238,000 after acquiring an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,112,698,000 after buying an additional 1,043,826 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 9.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $981,347,000 after buying an additional 1,404,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,703,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,021,000 after buying an additional 240,628 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Finally, Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

NYSE C opened at $71.93 on Monday. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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.