Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 8,616 Shares of Citigroup Inc. $C

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 330,380 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,616 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $38,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in C. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Citigroup by 166.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 12,499 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares during the period. United Bank bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 2nd quarter valued at $972,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 3,016.7% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 15,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 3,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $137.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $140.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $146.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Edward Skyler sold 25,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.41, for a total transaction of $3,285,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 182,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,919,511.02. The trade was a 12.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 2,117 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.30, for a total transaction of $265,260.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,908.20. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Citigroup Stock Up 3.9%

C opened at $135.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Citigroup Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.66 and a fifty-two week high of $135.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $124.50 and its 200 day moving average is $116.64. The stock has a market cap of $230.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.12.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.43. Citigroup had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $24.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. Citigroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 10.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $30.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Citigroup News

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup is reportedly part of a new tokenized deposit system being developed with JPMorgan and other major banks, a move that could help Citi compete with stablecoins and crypto-native firms while opening a new digital-payments growth avenue.
• Positive Sentiment: Citi said its AI document-processing system cut account-opening review time from 60 minutes to 15 minutes, signaling a meaningful productivity gain and a path to lower operating costs.
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup was also mentioned as a possible bank for OpenAI’s upcoming IPO, which could bolster fee income and reinforce Citi’s role in high-profile capital markets deals.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment is further supported by Citi’s recent strong results, with quarterly EPS and revenue both beating estimates, and by analyst commentary pointing to a constructive technical setup for the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citi announced redemptions of $3.15 billion in 2027-due notes. This is a routine balance-sheet action and does not appear to be a major surprise, but it may reflect ongoing capital management discipline.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several headlines focused on Citi’s broader research coverage of other companies and portfolio moves by Citi entities, but these appear to be more about the bank’s market presence than a direct driver of Citigroup’s stock.

Citigroup Company Profile

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City with roots tracing back to the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812. The modern Citigroup was created through the 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group and has since operated as a diversified bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments and institutions worldwide.

Citi’s principal businesses include retail and commercial banking, credit card and consumer lending products, wealth management and private banking, and a full suite of institutional services.