Poplar Forest Capital LLC Lowers Stock Position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 26.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 304,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 110,048 shares during the quarter. Citigroup makes up about 2.3% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $15,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of C. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,109,120,000. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,113,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,948,512 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 42.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,484,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930,296 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Citigroup by 251.1% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,356,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,910,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup by 49.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,885,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,683,000 after acquiring an additional 959,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

C has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.91.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:C traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,923,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,090,273. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.81 and a 200 day moving average of $51.70. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.17 and a twelve month high of $63.90.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.46 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.