Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 17,616 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 49.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,206 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,616 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $3,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $198,231,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,628 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE C opened at $70.55 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released 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. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given 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 37.65%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

C has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insider Activity 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 in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.