Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 154,001 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lowered its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 907,166 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,001 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $63,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 1,149,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,945,000 after purchasing an additional 151,042 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,963,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,624,000 after buying an additional 747,974 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,659,000. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $415,000. Finally, Yoffe Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $235,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on C shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com cut Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 30th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.23.

Citigroup Price Performance

C stock opened at $58.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.95. Citigroup Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. Corporate 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.