Sciencast Management LP Sells 1,682 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Sciencast Management LP lessened its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,176 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,682 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $3,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,912 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $198,231,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Citigroup by 70.0% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 1,865,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Citigroup by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on C. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Price Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.20. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 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 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.