Poplar Forest Capital LLC Sells 110,048 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 26.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 110,048 shares during the period. Citigroup accounts for approximately 2.3% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $15,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in Citigroup during the 3rd quarter worth $209,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 27,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,430,000 after purchasing an additional 4,150 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 56.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,245,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,078,000 after purchasing an additional 449,310 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,003,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 258,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,279,000 after purchasing an additional 21,440 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered Citigroup from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Citigroup from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Societe Generale lowered Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. HSBC boosted their target price on Citigroup from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citigroup 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 trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.47. 9,923,547 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,090,273. The company has a market cap 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.81 and a 200 day moving average of $51.70. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.17 and a 52-week high of $63.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 62.72%.

Citigroup Company 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.