Anand Selvakesari Sells 30,000 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Stock

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $81.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Core Alternative Capital boosted its position in Citigroup by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in Citigroup by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on C shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.93.

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.