Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Trims Holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,898 shares of the company’s stock after selling 313 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 596,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,957,000 after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA bought a new position in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $365,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 169,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,903,000 after buying an additional 10,809 shares in the last quarter. Slagle Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 27,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,905,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $742,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Price Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $70.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.51 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

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 $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on C shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.50.

Citigroup Company 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.