Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,947,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 208,881 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $236,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in C. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Citigroup by 31.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 43,167,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,582,269,000 after buying an additional 10,294,403 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in Citigroup by 25.9% in the first quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 41,129,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,460,384,000 after buying an additional 8,464,257 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in Citigroup by 16.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 22,670,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,356,168,000 after buying an additional 3,139,679 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Citigroup by 82.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,097,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $304,926,000 after buying an additional 2,306,300 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Citigroup by 10.9% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 12,065,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $721,746,000 after buying an additional 1,187,341 shares during the period. 74.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of Citigroup Inc. (C) opened at 68.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.34. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $42.86 and a 52 week high of $69.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.48. Citigroup also was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 24,677 put options on the company. This is an increase of 104% compared to the typical volume of 12,075 put options.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.07. Citigroup had a net margin of 18.11% and a return on equity of 7.32%. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post $5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 28th that allows the company to buyback $15.60 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Monday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. This is a boost from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 12.77%.
C has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Vetr upgraded Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $66.78 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Nomura restated a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up from $77.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.04.
Citigroup Company Profile
Citigroup Inc (Citi) is a financial services holding company. The Company’s whose businesses provide consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, trade and securities services and wealth management.
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