Avestar Capital LLC Decreases Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Avestar Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 196 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $842,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Core Alternative Capital grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Citigroup during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in Citigroup by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 184.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on C. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C opened at $82.06 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $82.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.61. The company has a market capitalization of $155.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly 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. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Citigroup’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans 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.