Aspen Investment Management Inc Acquires Shares of 2,889 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Aspen Investment Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,301 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after buying an additional 12,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Citigroup by 1.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,270,000 after buying an additional 20,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on C shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Down 3.1 %

C stock opened at $81.32 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.51 and a twelve month high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.32.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

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

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.