Arizona State Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 555,250 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,123 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $35,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in Citigroup by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 50,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,208,000 after acquiring an additional 14,650 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 2.1% during the second quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 6,849,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,700,000 after purchasing an additional 138,136 shares in the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% in the second quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the period. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the second quarter worth $4,308,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $60.73 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.17 and a 12-month high of $67.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.46.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.13. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.26% and a net margin of 4.95%. The business had revenue of $20.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is a positive change from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Citigroup from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Citigroup from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.06.

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.