Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Raises Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 339,082 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,754 shares during the quarter. Citigroup comprises 1.1% of Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $23,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 67.2% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 160,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,312,000 after buying an additional 64,600 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth about $229,000. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 8,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverbend Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $772,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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 lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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, Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three equities 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE:C opened at $67.22 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74. 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.83.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 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 business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.