Baird Financial Group Inc. Purchases 36,860 Shares of Citigroup Inc. $C

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup Inc. by 10.2%, bringing its total holdings to 399,529 shares valued at approximately $28.36 million.
• Citigroup recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.56 to $0.60 per share, representing a 2.5% yield.
• Citigroup's earnings per share for the last quarter were reported at $1.96, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.61.

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 399,529 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 36,860 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Citigroup were worth $28,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of C. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 179.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,534,297 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,031,790,000 after buying an additional 9,334,038 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup in the first quarter valued at about $578,100,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Citigroup by 6.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,101,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,917,794,000 after buying an additional 2,539,769 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its holdings in Citigroup by 2,230.8% in the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 2,630,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,726,000 after buying an additional 2,517,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 7,899.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,430,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $172,535,000 after buying an additional 2,400,033 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on C shares. Dbs Bank upgraded Citigroup from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Citigroup from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Citigroup from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Cowen started coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.96.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

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

Citigroup Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Citigroup stock traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $94.97. 14,155,625 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,676,451. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $92.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.10. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.51 and a 12-month high of $97.49. The company has a market cap of $174.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from Citigroup's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Citigroup's dividend 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.