Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 74.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 94,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 268,531 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $6,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of C. Harvey Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $894,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,278,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,383,000 after purchasing an additional 141,002 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 6,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $311,000. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on C shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of C opened at $84.62 on Tuesday. Citigroup Inc. has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.93. 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 capitalization of $160.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.65%.

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.