Ethos Financial Group LLC Has $388,000 Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,507 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Core Alternative Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citigroup Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $70.40 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The stock has a market cap of $132.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 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 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $77.91 and its 200-day moving average is $69.60.

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup 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.