Alerus Financial NA Acquires Shares of 5,183 Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Alerus Financial NA purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in C. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 4,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company's stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Citigroup by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 8,405 shares of the company's stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.92. The stock had a trading volume of 4,006,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,791,838. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.00. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74.

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Citigroup's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on C shares. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $83.86.

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.