Prospector Partners LLC Buys 760 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Prospector Partners LLC raised its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 247,395 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the quarter. Citigroup accounts for about 1.9% of Prospector Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $17,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Citigroup by 1,316.1% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 10,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 10,187 shares during the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 8,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $16,612,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,031,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,188,000 after buying an additional 97,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

NYSE:C opened at $58.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.51 and a twelve month high of $84.74. The stock has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.03.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s 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. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.23.

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.