Putnam Investments LLC Raises Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,775,952 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,300,520 shares during the period. Citigroup accounts for 1.2% of Putnam Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Putnam Investments LLC owned approximately 0.93% of Citigroup worth $914,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of C. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $867,599,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,109,120,000. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,113,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,948,512 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 42.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,484,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,751,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832,819 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.66.

Citigroup Stock Down 3.6 %

C stock traded down $2.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $59.20. 6,694,344 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,150,851. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.64. The company has a market capitalization of $112.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.48. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.17 and a twelve month high of $64.98. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The business had revenue of $21.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.72%.

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.