Investment House LLC Invests $2 Million in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Investment House LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 28,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,997,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of C. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in Citigroup by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $198,231,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Citigroup by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,692,000 after buying an additional 1,865,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Citigroup by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after buying an additional 1,731,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE C opened at $70.24 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.51 and a 200-day moving average of $70.11. The company has a market capitalization of $132.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

C has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.93.

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.