Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Purchases Shares of 8,023 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Citigroup by 94.8% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 5,816 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 5,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 56,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,561,000 after buying an additional 3,536 shares during the period. Cadence Bank grew its position in Citigroup by 14.5% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Citigroup by 7.1% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 137,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,593,000 after acquiring an additional 9,146 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Price Performance

C opened at $71.90 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $77.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.56. 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 $135.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.