Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Buys 10,187 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1,316.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,961 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,187 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of C. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 8,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at $16,612,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Citigroup by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,031,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,188,000 after purchasing an additional 97,786 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,210,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,984,000 after purchasing an additional 67,928 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C stock opened at $58.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.03. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.74. The firm has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on C shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.23.

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.