Advisors Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Citigroup Inc. $C

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Citigroup Inc. by 20.1%, holding 917,359 shares after acquiring an additional 153,777 shares in Q1.
• Citigroup declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, up from $0.56, representing a 2.5% yield with a payout ratio of 35.45%.
• Analysts remain optimistic about Citigroup, with ten rating the stock as a Buy and an average target price of $96.96.

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Free Report) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 917,359 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 153,777 shares during the quarter. Citigroup comprises 1.0% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Citigroup were worth $65,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westbourne Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the 1st quarter worth about $374,000. MBL Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the 1st quarter worth about $247,000. McAdam LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the company's stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 10,852 shares of the company's stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the first quarter valued at about $469,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Peter B. Henry sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.40, for a total value of $271,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $193,456. This represents a 58.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on C. Cowen began coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Citigroup from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Citigroup from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $96.96.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $97.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $179.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.41. The business's fifty day moving average is $93.21 and its 200 day moving average is $79.58. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.51 and a twelve month high of $98.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Citigroup (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $21.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.75 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 7.29% and a net margin of 8.44%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Citigroup has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Citigroup's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Citigroup's payout ratio is currently 35.45%.

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.

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