L & S Advisors Inc Makes New $6.31 Million Investment in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 89,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,312,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $1,935,599,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $198,231,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $283,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,628 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of C opened at $70.28 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $132.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.06 and a 200-day moving average of $70.72.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reissued 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

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.