Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Short Interest Update

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,160,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the January 31st total of 31,320,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 17,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In related news, CEO Titilope Cole sold 11,903 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.10, for a total value of $608,243.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 65,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,360,540.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 2,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total transaction of $149,771.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,689.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Titilope Cole sold 11,903 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.10, for a total value of $608,243.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 65,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,360,540.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,353 shares of company stock valued at $1,403,390. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Citigroup by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,678,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,903,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,516 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group raised its holdings in Citigroup by 96,645.9% during the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 84,494,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,512,000 after acquiring an additional 84,407,589 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,659,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,565,221,000 after acquiring an additional 235,958 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,852,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,169,317,000 after purchasing an additional 666,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,411,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,209,000 after purchasing an additional 8,217,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE C opened at $51.08 on Wednesday. Citigroup has a twelve month low of $40.01 and a twelve month high of $58.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.58. The company has a market capitalization of $99.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.30, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Citigroup (NYSE:C – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $18.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.91 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 8.14% and a net margin of 14.73%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 6th were issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Citigroup from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Barclays raised their target price on Citigroup from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Citigroup from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.47.

About Citigroup

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Citigroup, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial products and services. It operates through the following segments: Global Consumer Banking, Institutional Clients Group, and Corporate and Other. The Global Consumer Banking segment provides traditional banking services to retail customers through retail banking, including commercial banking, and Citi-branded cards and Citi retail services.