Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 58.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,932 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,692 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Core Alternative Capital boosted its stake in Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in Citigroup during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

C has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction 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 $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

NYSE:C opened at $77.14 on Tuesday. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.