Dearborn Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Dearborn Partners LLC increased its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,115 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in C. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its position in Citigroup by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 4,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Citigroup by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 8,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insider Activity

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $67.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.78 and a 200 day moving average of $69.87. The company has a market cap of $127.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month 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.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.