Unified Investment Management Invests $658,000 in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Citigroup by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 70.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,692,000 after buying an additional 1,865,628 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Citigroup by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,994,000 after buying an additional 1,731,527 shares during the period. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 5,760,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,716,844 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:C opened at $79.78 on Monday. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. Citigroup’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on C. Oppenheimer dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.