Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Sells 47,994 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lowered its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,360,499 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,994 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $95,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in C. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,484,000 after purchasing an additional 667,357 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,561,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,714,359,000 after acquiring an additional 815,003 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Citigroup by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,311,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,804,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Citigroup by 455.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,206,908,000 after purchasing an additional 25,705,141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

C has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Citigroup from $84.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $83.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 4,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.26, for a total value of $301,504.42. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $890,656.48. This trade represents a 25.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 108,007 shares of company stock valued at $8,824,653. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

C opened at $71.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $134.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.46. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. 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 (NYSE:C) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $21.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.34 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 35.39%.

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