Vestor Capital LLC Invests $24.60 Million in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Vestor Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 349,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,596,000. Citigroup makes up about 1.9% of Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

C has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America upped their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Stock Up 0.2 %

C stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.20. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly 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. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

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

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.