Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 874,714 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 145,218 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $61,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Core Alternative Capital increased its stake in Citigroup by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

C has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.50.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, 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 value of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

C stock opened at $70.28 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average price of $77.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.63. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released 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. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has authorized 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 purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.