Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,122,001 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102,080 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $78,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,492,238,000 after purchasing an additional 791,758 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,014,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,112,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,826 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 9.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 15,676,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $981,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,703,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,021,000 after acquiring an additional 240,628 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $67.13 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $77.68 and its two-hundred 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.34%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is 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.