Blume Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Blume Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 140,942 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the quarter. Citigroup accounts for approximately 2.2% of Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $9,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $67.13 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $126.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day moving average is $77.68 and its 200-day moving average is $69.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

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.