Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.56

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 3rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.56 per share on Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%.

Citigroup has increased its dividend by an average of 2.2% annually over the last three years. Citigroup has a payout ratio of 23.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Citigroup to earn $9.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.7%.

Citigroup Price Performance

NYSE C traded down $8.74 on Thursday, reaching $63.03. 39,436,663 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,890,452. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.95. Citigroup has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The company has a market cap of $118.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Citigroup stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 166.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,990 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,499 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.30.

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.