Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,472 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,191 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Citigroup were worth $10,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Core Alternative Capital boosted its position in Citigroup by 83.4% during the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in Citigroup by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Price Performance

C stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The company has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.46 and a 200 day moving average of $70.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

About Citigroup

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.