Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) COO Anand Selvakesari Sells 30,000 Shares

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.8 %

C opened at $83.94 on Thursday. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $158.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Core Alternative Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup in the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

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.