Opal Capital LLC Decreases Stake in Citigroup Inc. $C

Opal Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 76.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,754 shares during the quarter. Opal Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $2,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in C. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,800,944,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Citigroup by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 163,239,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,048,467,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938,923 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $298,082,000. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the first quarter valued at $252,972,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Citigroup by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,158,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $835,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup launched Citi Consolidate, an invoice-processing and payables solution integrated with Infor Nexus. The platform digitizes purchase orders, invoice approvals and payments for corporate clients, potentially strengthening Citi’s transaction-banking relationships and adding recurring fee revenue. Citi Is Now Live With a Trade Digitization Solution Integrating Supply Chain Solutions
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street strategists identified large banks, including Citigroup, as overlooked beneficiaries of the AI investment cycle. Banks could gain from financing data-center construction, managing payments and providing capital-markets services, broadening Citi’s exposure beyond traditional lending. Wall Street Banks Eyed as Overlooked Beneficiaries of AI Trade
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains supportive after Citi’s strong second-quarter performance. The bank’s record results, transformation plan and shareholder-return prospects are being cited as reasons the stock may still offer upside despite its recent rerating. Is Citigroup Stock Still a Buy After Its Blockbuster Q2 Performance?
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup expects the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates at its upcoming meeting, while assigning a 33% probability to a hike. A stable-rate outlook could support net interest income, but the possibility of tighter policy keeps investors focused on inflation and credit conditions. Citigroup Expects Fed to Maintain Rates Amid 33% Hike Probability
• Negative Sentiment: Broader concerns that massive AI spending may prove unsustainable represent a risk to banks positioned to finance the buildout. A pullback in AI investment could reduce loan demand, deal activity and market sentiment toward financial stocks. Singapore’s MAS Flags AI Pullback as Threat to Global Markets

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on C. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus set a $150.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $146.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $158.00 to $154.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.67.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.4%

C stock opened at $132.53 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.94 and a twelve month high of $147.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.98.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $24.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.74 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 10.15%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This is an increase from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 25.92%.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $30.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.30, for a total transaction of $265,260.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,908.20. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Citigroup

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City with roots tracing back to the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812. The modern Citigroup was created through the 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group and has since operated as a diversified bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments and institutions worldwide.

Citi’s principal businesses include retail and commercial banking, credit card and consumer lending products, wealth management and private banking, and a full suite of institutional services.