OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 50.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 99,377 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,532 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $6,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Core Alternative Capital lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Up 0.9%

C stock opened at $75.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.69. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.30.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.34 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other 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 transaction of $301,504.42. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,007 shares of company stock worth $8,824,653 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.04.

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.