Cooke & Bieler LP Buys Shares of 636,122 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 636,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,777,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 9,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Citigroup by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 339,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 67.2% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 160,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,312,000 after purchasing an additional 64,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 10,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

C has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $67.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.84 and a 200 day moving average of $69.83. The company has a market cap of $126.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.