Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Reduces Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co trimmed its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 461,676 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,524 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $29,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 123.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,716,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,005,749,000 after acquiring an additional 17,525,484 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Citigroup by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 30,007,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,904,262,000 after purchasing an additional 250,716 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,755,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,273,411,000 after buying an additional 1,836,283 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 17,775,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,395,000 after buying an additional 1,300,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $867,599,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE C traded down $1.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.09. The company had a trading volume of 14,093,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,589,779. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.17 and a 12-month high of $67.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50-day moving average is $62.44 and its 200 day moving average is $61.25. The stock has a market cap of $112.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. This is an increase from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on C shares. Argus raised their price target on Citigroup from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Citigroup from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.06.

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.