Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Acquires 271,093 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,303,686 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 271,093 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $91,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 6.1% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,021 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 38,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,412,000 after purchasing an additional 5,164 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the third quarter worth approximately $3,696,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE C opened at $74.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $139.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.48 and a 200-day moving average of $70.42. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.51 and a 12 month high of $84.74.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.