Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,928 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in C. Connective Portfolio Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 347.4% in the fourth quarter. Connective Portfolio Management LLC now owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Citigroup by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 30,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,151,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on C. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Citigroup from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Citigroup from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.13.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $78.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $148.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.51 and a 12 month high of $79.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup 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.