Handelsbanken Fonder AB Decreases Stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 575,825 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71,985 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $29,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 56.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 38,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 13,955 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $1,072,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 22,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $316,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 42,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,204,000 after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on C shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.91.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $60.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.47. Citigroup Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.17 and a 12 month high of $63.90. The company has a market capitalization of $116.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.52.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.86 earnings per share. Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.72%.

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.