Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,569 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Core Alternative Capital grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value 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 $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $67.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.86. The company has a market capitalization of $128.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share 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%. Citigroup’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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 allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

C has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.