Norges Bank Buys Shares of 27,498,205 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,498,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,599,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.45% of Citigroup as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on C. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of C opened at $73.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current 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’s 50-day moving average price is $77.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.55.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given 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 3.06%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.