Kovack Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 103.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,533 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,023 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of C. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the third quarter valued at $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Citigroup by 73.8% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 683 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 75.0% during the third quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Citigroup during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

C has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Citigroup from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.91.

Citigroup Stock Up 1.4 %

Citigroup stock traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $62.66. The stock had a trading volume of 16,364,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,990,358. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.17 and a 52 week high of $63.90. The company has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.92.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 4.90%. The business had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 62.72%.

Citigroup 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.