Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Buys Shares of 5,629 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 5,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Core Alternative Capital grew 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 acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the third quarter worth $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC acquired a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $71.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $77.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $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.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

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

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.