Apella Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 3,258 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Apella Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Citigroup during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup during the second quarter worth $31,000. 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup by 69.3% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.13.

Citigroup Stock Up 6.8 %

C opened at $78.48 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.22. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.51 and a 52 week high of $79.25. The company has a market cap of $148.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

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.