National Pension Service Boosts Stock Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,332,499 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,503 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $171,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 75.0% in the third quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Citigroup during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

NYSE C traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $62.75. 9,754,241 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,539,840. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.49. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.17 and a 52 week high of $63.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 4.90%. The company had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.86 earnings per share. Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on C shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Citigroup from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Citigroup from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.85.

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.